LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE LIFE 



PUBLIC SERVICES 



Abraham Lincoln, 



CHARLES MALTBY, 



LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 
FOR CALIFORNIA. 

1884. 



COPYRIGHT SECURED. 






STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA: 

DAILY INDEPENDENT STEAM POWKK PRINT. 
1884. 






NEWSPAPER REMARKS. 



Knowing the author and his I'umiharity with this always interesting 
subject, his ability to handle it, his conscientious painstaking and his perfect 
reliability, we anticipate in his forthcoming book a valuable contribution to 
the personal history of the most interesting character that ever figured on the 
stage of human action in the United States, and one of the most interesting 
in all history. — Los Angeles Weehly Mirror. • 

We have read all that is extant relating to the life, character and public 
services of the immortal Lincoln, and can say in all sincerity that, in 
our judgment, the forthcoming volume from the pen of Mr. Maltby will get 
nearer to the heart of the rising generation than any other history of the 
martyr Lnicoln. What will impress the reader of Maltby's Life of Lincoln 
is that, without verbosity or undue embellishment, it wells up fresh and 
pure from a heai't earnest and honest in its devotion to the memory of a 
revered friend. — Petaluma Weekh/ Argus. 

Mr. Maltby, tlie author, is a resident of Stockton, and we rejoice to know 
that we have in our midst a citizen who is capable of producing so excellent 
a book on the grandest character of the age. — StocHon Record. 

This work will contain mapy incidents of Mr. Lincoln's early life never 
given to the public before, as well as his later acts that have so endeared his 
memory to the American people. From the advance pages, we predict the 
work will be a marked success. — Ludi Sentinel. 

We bespeak for Mr. Maltby iiearty welcome for his book, which a long 
and close connection with Mr. Lincoln, previous to and during his greatness, 
makes him qualified to write. — Santa Barbara Independent. 

Advance sheets of the " Life and Public Services of Abraliam Lincoln," 
by Charles Maltby, have been received at the Journal office. There are 
certainly in the introductory pages an excellence and merit that bespeaks 
success for tiie entiwe work. — Tulare Conntti .fonrual. 

Mr. Maltby was formerly a partner of Mr. Lincoln and is faniiliar with 
many unpublislied incidents in the life of the martyred President. Tlie work 
will meet with extensive sale. — Sanln Ihirliara I'ratK. 



INTRODUCTION. 



On our .■ountrv's reconl are inscribed the names of many thai live and 
sliould Uve, an.l in tlieir memorial our Kepublic is honored in their remem- 
brance. 

Among those worthies who have passed to their reward, there are none 
whose life-work shines with a brighter luster than that of liim who. in the 
interests and services of humanity and freedom, has perfected the ideal, and 
executed the grandest work for his country and liis race the world has ever 
witnessed-whom his countrymen loved and delighted to honor-Abraham 
Lincoln. 

I have written, and now present to the American public, a brief account 
of the life and public services of that great and good man. I have been moved 
to this, in part, by a personal acquaintance of thirty-five years with Mr. 
Ijn^.oln-commencing at the time of his majority, in daily business asso- 
ciations with him for a period which resulted in an intimacy and friend- 
ship which continued through his life, and which friendship and confidence 
he manifested during his administration in giving the writer appointments of 
offices of trust and honor on the Pacific Coast. Incentives formed by those per- 
sonal relations with Mr. Lincoln have made the writing of his life a pleasure. 
It is an offering to his friendship and memory, while opportunity is presented 
to illustrate his personal character, to portray those interesting features of 
his private and public life, and to exhibit his social, religious and imlitical 

])rinciple8. 

It has been my aim and purpose to present a true and faithful exhibition 
of the character and eminent services of that good man, narrating in an ab- 
breviated form the events of his life, the inception, the grbwth and fruition of 
those grand and humane principles which have made his name and fame 



INTRODUCTIOX. 



immortal, and to impress upon the minds of my youthful readers that success 
in our purposes and aspirations in life is attained by constant effort and 
perseverance; and to give them an example Avorthy of emulation in their 
devotion to principle and love of country, as well as to finally strengthen their 
purpose and aim in sustaining those principles and measures of National unity 
and personal liberty which he left us as our heritage, and which have been 
and are the policy of our Government, and which, under succeeding adminis- 
trations, have guided our Nation and people to a state of prosperity, to an 
eminence unparalleled in the history of the world. 

I have freely consulted the biographies of Lincohi by Messrs. Kavmond 
and Holland, to the correctness of which I can bear testimony. 

I trust that this volume will give pleasure and inspiration to the reader 
in the contemplation of the life and public services of the martyred President, 
and incentives to a high and consecrated love of country and humanity! 
With this, its objects will have been successful and its designs accomplished. 

CHARLES MALTBY. 



CONTENTS : 

CHArXER. PAGE. 

I. Birth and Childliood ----___ 9 

II. Boyhood ------____ 17 

III. Early Manhood ---_____ 24 

IV. Outline of rrinci})les and Character- - _ _ _ 31 

V. Early Military Kecord— Black Hawk War - - _ 37 

VI. Characteristics --__ ____ 42 

VII. Election to the Legislature — Early Anti->Slavery Kecord 47 

VIII. Location at the State Capitol — Admittance to the Bar - 51 

IX. Marriage — Selection to Congress - _ _ _ 55 

X. Congressional Record ------- qi 

XI. Kansas and Nebraska Bill — Senatorial Election - - 67 

XII. Organization of the Republican Party _ _ _ 72 

XIII. Senatorial Contest of Lincoln and Douglass - - 78 

XIV. Senatorial Contest Continued _____ 33 

XV. Republican Candidate for the Presidency _ _ _ 89 

XVI. Nomination for President - _ _ _ _ 94 

XVII. Result of the Presidential Election _ _ _ loj 

XVIII. From Springfield to Washington — Inauguration - - 106 

XIX. The Cheat Work of Lincoln's Life — Douglass for the Union 119 



^J_ CONTENT.S. 

XX. Uprising of Patriotism— Our Foreign Relations 

XXI. California's Loyalty to the Union - - " " 

XXII. Battle at Bull's Run-Appointment of (leneral McClellan 

XXIII. General Scott Retired— The Trent Affiiir - - - 

XXIV. General McClellan's Peninsula Cam})aign - - - 

XXV. General McClellan's Failure - - - 

XXVI. General McClellan Superceded— Union Success— Stanton, 

Secretary of War - - - 

XXVII. Differences Ralative to Slavery— Republican Principles - 

XXVIII. The Rjil Cause of the Rjbsllioa-The President's Appsal 

XXIX. Emancipation Proclamation - - - " ~ 

XXX. Reasons for Emancipation— Battle of Gettysburg 

XXXI. Lee's Retreat-Capture of Vicksburg-Bragg's Defeat - 

XXXII. Thirty-seventh Congress-Financial Policy-Charactei-- 

istic Incidents 

XXXIII. Suspension of Writs of Habeas Corpus-Arrests for 

Disloyalty - - " " " 

XXXIV. Vallandigham Sent to his Friends-Albany Meeting- 

President's Reply --""""" 

XXXV. The Missouri Imbroglio-Characteristic Letters-Election 

Results ----- ~ 

XXXVI. The President's Daily Experience and Inner Life 

XXXVII. Thirty-eighth Congress-President's Message-General 

Chant made Lieutenant-General - - " 

XXX VIII. Reconstruction Measures - - - ~ 

XXXIX. Champion of the Industrial Classes - - - - 
XL. Glimpses of Christian Character - - - " " 
XLI. Discontent ami Dis-piict in the Rcpubhcan Party 
XLII. President Lincoln's Second Nomination - - - ■ 



125 
130 
135 
141 
147 



158 
163 
167 
172 
180 
186 

191 

106 

201 

206 
211 



218 
223 
227 
232 
237 
241 



CPXTKNTS. Vii. 

XLIII. rresiileiitial Canvass, 18(54 ----__ 24G 

XLTV. liesult of tlio Presidential CNjiitcst - - - _ _ 251 

XLV. ^loveiiuMits of (ieiieiuls (Iiaiit ami Slieniuiii - - 257 

XlvVI. National Alfairs, Close of 1S(;4 - - - _ _ 262 

XLVII. Shei man's March Througli Georgia— Defeat of Ilootl - 2»)7 

XLVIII. I'assage of Amendment Abolishing Slavery - - - 273 

XLIX. President's Simplieity — Charity and P>quanimity - 278 

I--. Vence Conference at Hampton Roads - - _ _ 284 

LI. United States Sanitary and Christian Commissions - 289 

LII. President Lincoln's Second Inaugnratlon - - - 294 

LIIL Slierman's March Tiiiough the Carolinas— Fall of Richmond 299 

LTV. Evacnation of Richmond — Lee's Surrender - - - 305 

LV. Joy of the President and People— Raising the Old Flag on 

Foit Snmpter ---____ ^n 

LVI. Assassination of the President — Funeral Services at Wash- 
ington - -----___ 316 

LVII. Vvom Washington to Springfield— Funeral Obsequies- 
Remarks - --_____ 321 



AND 

PUBLIC SERVICES 

OF 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



CHAPTER I. 

BTRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 

The character of the subject of these memoirs is so unique, and his Hfe 
so illustrious, that a narrative of his parentage and early history is of 
peculiar interest to the American people. It is a notable career. His 
devotion to the Nation's interest, his connection with and management of the 
great and most momentous events of oir countrj''s liistory give special 
importance and interest to the place of his nativity, to his early life, to his 
youthful hardships, to his limited facilities for obtaining an early education 
a,nd to his success amidst his struggles and toils for an upright manhood. 

When, in I860, he was about to be called to the highest oftiee in the <'ift 
of the people, he was consulted with reference to incidents of his early history. 
His reply was characteristic : " You will find the whole of my life in a sin^'le 
line of Gray's Elegy, ' The short and simple annals of the poor.' " At that 
time he did not realize the interest and curiosity that were being manifested 
by ills fellow-citizens to be informed of his early life and parentage. 

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States, was born 
.. _ounty, Kentucky, on the 12th day of February, 180J), in a rustic 

9 



10 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

log cabin, such as were'the tenements of most of the emigrants in that State 
at that early day. 

The early slumbers of the j'oung stranger were not broken by the shrill 
whistle of the locomotive, nor by the sound of the church bells calling their 
devotees to their regular hours of worship. The woodman's ax as he felled 
the forest, the crack of the huntsman's rifle, or the shrill screech of the 
panther or howl of the wolf broke the, stillness of his surroundings. Here no- 
scholastic or collegiate edifice with its portals stood open to receive the 
youthful student, but in Nature's unpolluted and statelj' surroundings was 
planted the germ of those principles and deeds that have made his name and 
fame immortal. 

The ancestors of Abraham Lincoln settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania, 
at an early day ; they were of English extraction ; they yv&ve of the Quaker 
order and principles. Mr. Lincoln held that they came over from England 
under the auspices of William Penn, while some of his biographers, from the 
similarity of family Christian names, class them as a branch of the Lincoln 
families of New England. The more immediate ancestors of Lincoln, pre- 
vious to 1752, removed from Berks county, Pennsylvania, to Virginia, and 
settled in Shenandoah valley. Abraham Lincoln, the grandfather of the 
President, was born in that valley, Rochingham county, and removed from 
there to Kentucky in 1780. The desire of change and love of adventure, 
which appears peculiar to the Lincoln family, and the captivating reports 
from the Western lands of promise, seem to have been the inducements for 
him with his young and tender wife to leave the home of his nativity and the 
land of security and plenty for the then savage wilderness of Kentucky. He 
settled in Bullitt county, and in 1784 he was killed by the savages while at 
work ill the field, a short distance from his family and cabin. He left a 
widow and five helpless and dependent children ; sons — Mordecai, Josiah 
and Thomas (the father of the President) ; daughters — Mary and Nancy. 
The widow, soon after the murder of her husband, removed to Washington 
county and there, as necessity and poverty prescribed, raised to mature years 
her dependent and heljiless family. Mordecai removed late in life from Ken- 
tucky to Illinois. Josiah; while young, settled in Indiana. The daughters 
married and settled in Kentucky. 

Thomas, the youngest son (father of the President), by the death of his 
father when he was six years of age, was left in the care of a widowed mother 
in straitened circumstances, with no immediate friends or relatives to help 
her bear her burdens, and only the kind offices of the neighbors, many of 
whom were almost as needy and helpless as herself. There were no schools, 
and the mother had no time to devote' to the instruction of her children. 
Thomas grew up to manliood with no knowledge of his own language and no 



OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. H 

knowledge of letters except those of his own name, and this only could he 
write. As soon as he was able to provide for himself he became a day 
laborer and a number of years were spent in laboring for otiiers, and when not 
thus engaged he was hunting game, of which Kentucky was noted for the 
abundance and variety. Laboring under these disadvantages he grew up to 
manhood ignorant, wanting in those energetic and enterprising impulses 
which give success to the efforts and industries of life. 

He was held by his friends and neighbors as a man of strict integrity, 
notably fond of telling anecdotes and stories, loved by his family and respected 
by all his associates. He was of medium stature, well-proportioned, robust 
and elastic in his movements, and clothed in the rustic garb which his indi- 
gence necessitated, he was a fair representative of the humble pioneers of 
that day and age. 

Thus, from early boyhood until he was twenty-eight years of age, was his 
life spent with no plans for the future and no opportunities for acquiring a 
competence for the present or future wants. He now concluded to settle in 
life and to assume the duties, relations and responsibilities of a married life. 

In 1806 he married Nancy Hanks. She was a native of Virginia, and 
came to Kentucky, some years preyious to her marriage, with some relatives, 
f Coming from Virginia to Kentucky at an early age, her opportunities and 
facilities for obtaining a common education had been very limited and meager. 
She was of medium stature, light and fragile in form, of a grave and sensitive 
nature, pure and heroic, and of a deep and abiding affection, lovino- all and 
beloved by all her associates. 

Soon after their marriage her husband took her to their humble dwell- 
ing, which he had prepared for their residence. It was a lowly home, still it 
was a home where love, affection and virtue reigned supreme. 

This was the birthplace of the President, and here, within a few years of 
her married life, she had born to her husband three children ; the first, a 
daughter named Sarah; second, Abraham; third, Thomas, who died in 
infancy. The father and mother of Abraham were members of the Baptist 
Church, and inculcated in the minds and hearts of their children the essential, 
holy truths of the Bible. The mother, following at her humble distance in 
the footsteps of the illustrious mothers of Adams, Washington, Madison and 
Clay, began early in her humble way to instill in the minds of her (;hildren 
lessons of patriotism, love, purity and fidelity from the inspiration of God's 
holy word, and from the history of the revolution and the lives of Franklin 
and Washington, and other books which could be obtained. Thus were their 
young minds directed to lives and pursuits noble and elevating in their 
h aracter. 



12 LIFE AND PUBtIC SERVICES 

Here, in this lowly cottage, with mother for teacher and sister for a com- 
panion, the first eight years of the President's life! were passed. Those days 
of his childhood were the most impressive and important in the history of his 
life. Drawn by the secluded and tender relations of his humble home to 
those endearing and delicate affections of son and brother, he early evinced a 
wonderful love and affection for his mother and sister, which grew with his 
growth and increased with his years, until it became a leading and absorbing 
principle of his life, and on it was engrafted all of the humanity and kindness 
of his later years. 

The associates of Abraham Lincoln who were favored with his friendship 
and confidence in his youth, and in those days when he was struggling with 
poverty and adversity for place and influence with his fellow-citizens, and 
heard from his own lips how a devoted mother labored to instill correct prin- 
ciples into his young mind, and to guide his footsteps in the paths of virtue 
and Christian influence, saw early in his life omens of success and grand 
ideals of human excellence. But to the American people, and to the world, 
it required the labor of a life and a martyr's death to exhibit fully his man- 
hood, his tender, sympathetic regard for suffering humanity and his patriotic 
principles which inspired the people with a devotion to country and nation- 
ality such as the world has never witnessed. 

I 

The historian, the patriot, looking back for the first cause of those grand 

results, will find that in the lowly cottage, in the humble family circle, his 
mother was his inspiration ; her wise coimsels and her blessed words and 
example planted the seeds in a heart that was filial, obedient and affectionate, 
and at the death of his mother, when he was ten years of age, her lessons 
of divine wisdom and hallowed influences had become a part of his being, and 
he could say as he often said in his later years : " All that I am, or hope to 
be, I owe to my angel mother — blessings on her sacred memory." 

The parents of Abraham were desirous that their children should receive 
at least the first rudiments of an education, but in those early days in Ken- 
tucky, schools were few and irregular. Abraham, when he was seven years 
old, with his sister, commenced his attendence at the nearest school, which 
was four miles distant from their home. His first teacher was Zachariah Kinej', 
and second, Caleb Hazen. He attended those two schools six months, and 
learned to read well and write a fair, legible hand. 

At this period of his life, being eight years old, his father became dissatis- 
fied with his location and surroundings in Kentucky, and proposed to sell his 
humble home and remove to a more desirable locality. The State at that 
time was settling up rapidly, and many of the settlers, by slave labor, were 
becoming prosperous and wealthy. Abraham's father inherited the Quaker 



OF AKKAHAM LINCOLN. 13 

principles of his Pennsylvania ancestors in regard to slavery, and realized 
fully the fact that the institution of slavery was making the situation of the 
poor man hopeless and unpleasant, and that the future was not promising 
and hopeful for himself and family. Defective land titles in Kentucky were 
an additional cause of removal. The Northwestern Territory, wliich had 
been set apart and dedicated to freedom by the fathers of the Republic, was 
at that time attracting the attention of those who desired to remove from the 
slave States to free territory. 

The father finally decided to remove to Indiana, it having been admitted 
the year previous as a State into the Union, and although then an unbroken 
wilderness it was rapidly settling up with a vigorous and enterprising popu- 
lation. Mr. Lincoln soon found a purchaser for his homestead, for which he 
received ten barrels of whisky and $20 in money. The homestead was on 
the Eolling Fork river, and as soon as the sale was concluded he constructed 
a small flat-boat, and putting aboard his heavy household goods, tools and 
whisky, he bid adieu to his family and was soon sailing down the river on 
his way to select a new home in Indiana. Boon after reaching the Ohio 
river his frail boat upset and the cargo was thrown into the river. Some 
men on the bank, witnessing the accident, assisted in saving the boat; 
all the freight was lost, except three barrels of whisky, some carpenter's 
tools and a few other articles. He soon proceeded down the river to a ferry, 
where the road crossed the river, and procuring a guide and team made his 
way, cutting a road most of the way through the forest, eighteen miles, when 
Spencer county was reached and the site of his new home selected. Mr. 
Lincoln, now leaving his goods in care of a family living a few miles distant, 
returned to Kentucky on foot, and made preparations at once to remove his 
family. Before leaving the old homestead, Mr. Lincoln, with Abraham and 
sister, visited the grave of the little son and brother and paid their last 
tribute of affection and sorrow, an incident often mentioned by Abraham 
with tender emotion and interest. 

In a short time the Lincoln family bid adieu to their old home and 
slavery, and on horseback, Mrs. Lincoln and her daughter riding one horse, 
Abraham another and the father a third, and driving two or three pack ani- 
mals, after seven days' journey through the wilderness, they reached the 
location selected for their future home. The next morning after their arrival 
Mr. Lincoln and Abraham, with his small ax in hand, were engaged in clear- 
ing a site for a log cabin. This being done the assistance of a neighbor was 
procured, and in a few days Mr. Lincoln had a comfortable log house, 
eighteen feet square, erected ; the roof was covered with siiakes, the floor 
was laid with slabs hewn with a broad ax and the door was made of the same 



14 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

material. Slabs laid on poles overhead formed Abraham's chamber, and he, 
who was in after years to occupy the White House, here in his humble loft 
enjoyed many nights of sweet, undisturbed repose. With an ax, saw, ham- 
mer and a few nails, a bedstead, table and a few stools were made, and the 
building was ready for occupancy. The loss of the household goods by the 
upsetting of the boat on the river while in transit could not be immediately 
made good and thus the household furnishing department was very plain and 
meager. 

Persons whose lives have been spent in the old settlements of the country, 
and the youth of the present day, cannot realize or imagine the humility 
and lowliness of border life and the simplicity and plainness of the household 
appointments of that period. 

The Lincoln family, settled in their new home, have hard and constant 
labor to perform. The land must be cleared and prepared for the jcrops nec- 
essary for the sustenance of the family and stock, and for supplying the 
simple wants of the household. Abraham was now eight years of age. He 
was furnished with a light ax and early learned to use it efficiently, and in 
this new field of labor he entered with zeal and earnestness, assisting" his 
father, as far as his age and strength would permit, in clearing the land for 
cultivation. This labor and exercise strengthened and made elastic his 
physical system, which became fully developed in his early manhood. 

Here, on the outskirts of civilization, surrounded only b}- pure and gentle 
influences which were forming his character and habits for industry, integrity 
and usefulness, was Providence preparing him for the leadership in a moment- 
ous strife for National unity and universal liberty. 

Abraham had but little taste and desire for outdoor sports. He usually 
spent his evenings at home, reading such books as he could obtain, after the 
labors and duties of the day were performed. It was some time after their 
settlement in Indiana before schools were established in the neighborhood, 
and during the several years the family lived in Indiana, Abraham attended 
school six months, making his attendance at the different schools about one 
year during his life. In this attendance he became a good reader and writer, 
and proficient in arithmetic. 

Two years after the settlement of the family in Indiana, wheijp.Abraham 
was ten years of age, his mother, frail and delicate, was taken with consump- 
tion and quickly and gently passed away. The daughter and son were now 
as orphans; the lium])le home was now desolate; the loving, kind voice, the 
tender embraces and instructions of a fond, affectionate mother were to be 
remembered as mementos of the past. But she had been spared for a time 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 16 

to plant the seeds of love, virtue and affection, which had taken deep root, 
and which in after years produced the richest and most abundant fruit. 

They lay the beloved wife and mother away to rest beneath the overspread- 
ing trees near the humble cottage, and there the son and the daughter often 
repaired to weep and mourn over their sad and irreparable bereavement. 
The mother was laid away to rest without a formal Christian burial. But 
•with this the husband, son and daughter were not content, in this their sad 
affliction. They remembered their parson, Elkin, who had ministered to 
their spiritual wants in Kentucky. Some months after his mother's death 
Abraham wrote a letter to Parson Elkin informing him of his mother's death, 
and requested him to come to Indiana and perform the last sad and sacred 
funeral rites at his mother's grave. 

When the kind parson i-eceived Abraham's letter it recalled vividly to 
his mind the stricken Christian family, and how often their humble hospi- 
table door had been opened to him to receive his spiritual ministrations and 
to minister to their temporal wants. These recollections induced a favorable 
reply to the request, and he informed Abraham that on a Sabbath not far 
distant he would be present to officiate as he desired. Notice was given to 
the friends and neighbors, and at the time appointed the settlers and friends 
gathered to the sequestered place where the remains of the loved wife and 
naother were buried. 

On that solemn Sabbath morning, accompanied by the stricken family, 
the good parson was received by the neighbors, seated on logs and rustic seats 
around the grave, assembled to pay the last tribute of respect to one so uni- 
versally beloved. 

It is Spring time. The majestic trees overshadowing the consecrated 
*ipot are putting on their livery of green — fit emblems of .man's immortality. 
Flowers, in all their variety and beauty, are springing up all around the 
hallowed ground, representing the Christian's hope beyond the grave. The 
parson takes a seat at the head of the grave and bows his head in meditation ; 
the stillness is only broken by the sobs of the bereaved and the melody of the 
leathered songsters as they flit from tree to tree. 

The occasion becomes more impressive as the beloved minister rises and 
invokes the mercies and blessings of the Great Author of our being on the 
friends and bereaved for their reliance on and submission to the Divine will, 
and following in his discourse to his audience he illustrates the graces of 
Christian character, the ground of the Christian's hope beyond the grave, 
which were so signally manifested iii the life and death of the devoted 
<^'hristian wife and mother who had departed, and witii that warm praise 



16 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

which her life had merited and deserved, he holds her up as an example 
worthy to be imitated|in all the walks of true Christian experience and 
womanhood. 

Those tender, solemn services were treasured up in the heartand memory 
of Abraham, and it was many years before the desolation and sorrows of that 
sad bereavement passed away, and the frequent reference of Mr. Lincoln in 
his mature years to his early life and his mother's teachings prove how viv- 
idly were impressed on his mind and life her Christian example, her constant, 
diligent efforts to create and impress his young and tender heart with pure 
and noble motives. His after life proved that he was true to her teachings, 
to her pious and exemplary life, and to the high and noble principles im- 
plantei by her in his heart and memory in his young and tender years. 



CIHAPTER II. 

BOYHOOD. 

The period of our boyhood lives, from ten to twenty years, is regarded as 
the most important and interesting. Examples and principles inculcated now 
become lasting and salutary. Habits are now formed, and principles are 
interwoven into our natures which, with few exceptions, shape our destiny 
and circumstances through life. The principles inculcated and implanted in 
our earlier years grow with our growth, form character in our youth, and 
produce their fruit later in life. 

Abraham Lincoln had now passed childhood, and entered into boyhood. 
We now more fully recognize the graces and princii)les impressed and 
implanted by a devoted C'hristian mother, wliich gave basis to his character, 
which led him in the paths of honor and virtue and into fellowship with the 
people, and joined him in heart and purpose with the laboring clas-ses. No 
elevation in society or political honors lessened his respect for the sons of toil. 
His home was in the far West, and on its broad prairies he was to learn 
lessons of self-reliance which would lead him to an upright manhood. Simple 
in life and manners, he was now growing up with the people ; his love of 
home, his devotion to and tender regard for his sister, his fidelity and respect 
for the memory of his mother, and his habits of study and fondness for books 
made him noted with his associates and ac(iuaintances as a boy of unusual 
and remarkable reputation, and won the esteem and interest of all his 
neighbors and companions. 

He was genial and sociable with his comrades, and entered at times with 
zest and pleasure into all the innocent pastimes and amusements of the day. 
He loved labor, was actively industrious and assisted, as far as age and 
strength would permit, in the improvement and cultivation of the homestead. 

He had early acquired a taste and love for reading, which was remark- 
able for one of his age, and all the V)Ooks he could obtain by borrowing from 
his friends and neighbors were read and re-read. His early reading was 
limited by the scarcity of books and the want of means to purchase those that 

17 



18 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

could be obtained. The Bible, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, J?^sop's Fables 
and Dillworth's Spelling Book constituted the family library, and they were 
diligently studied, and their contents soon became as familiar to him as 
household words. These books, with his mother's teachings, laid the founda- 
tion for that purity and excellence of character, simplicity and earnestness of 
purpose which has never been excelled. 

He afterwards procured Ramsey's and Ward's life of AVashington, the 
life of Franklin and subsequently the life of Henry Clay. From the life of 
Washington he had lessons of patriotism and love of country worthy of imita- 
tion, and a history of the revolution which he loved to study. From the 
lives of Franklin and ('lay he had examples from those who had risen by 
their own efforts and industry to professional and political distinction, from 
conditions in life almost as humble as his own. He studied over tliose books 
until his heart glowed with a noble emulation and true patriotism which were 
the moving spirit and purpose of his subsequent life. 

As an evidence of his love of books and his integrity, the following 
notable incident may be mentioned : A Mr. Crawford had loaned Abraham 
a copy of Ramsey's life of Washington. After reading it one evening he laid 
it by, as he thought safely, but a storm arose during the night and the rain 
beat in through a crack in the house, and the book was soaked through and 
its appearance much soiled. What could he do? He had no money to pay 
for the book. He, however, took it and went to Mr. Crawford and showed 
him the injury, and ofTered to work for him until he was fully satisfied. Mr. 
Crawford accepted tlie offer, and Abraham received the book as his own for 
three days' labor in pulling corn fodder. His manliness and honesty won 
the respect and esteem of Mr. Crawford and all his neighbors, who were soon 
informed of the incident. 

By the death of liis mother, the domestic duties of the household devolved 
upon Sarah, now twelve years of age. By the teachings and instructions of 
her mother, she had thus early in life become versed in those domestic duties 
which, well performed, render the home so desirable and attractive, and in 
these labors and duties she received all the assistance that could be rendered 
by a kind and affectionate brother. How often in mature years, and still 
later in life, does memory recall many pleasing incidents of our childhood — 
the hearth-stones around which was gathered the family circle— the kind 
father, the loving mother and the affectionate brothers and sisters, the kind 
favors and services conferred and the grateful smiles of approbation returned. 
Those bhssful liours have been treasured up as precious mementos of the 
l)ast, adding more and still more to our hallowed happiness and to the aspira- 
tions of our better natures. Mr. I.,incoln often, in his mature years, referred 
to his early home, and the liousehold memories which he had garnered up in 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 19 

his heart as treasures wliich he held sacred ; and as they were homely 
pictures of rural life they were full of the filial relations which ennoble our 
natures and make our humanity next to the divine. 

Some eighteen months after the death of Abraham's mother, his father 
married and brought to his home Mrs. 8ally Johnson of JClizabethtown, Ken- 
tucky, an acquaintance of former years. She was already the mother of 
three children by her former marriage. The union of the two families was 
pleasant and harmonious, the maternal duties of stepmother were merged 
int(^ those of mother, and the kindness and affection which she manifested 
toward Abraham and his sister were gratefully remembered and appreciated 
by him then and in after years. She lived to see her protege gradually rise 
by his own efforts and industry to stations of honor and fame, and finally to 
become the honored ruler of the Nation, and then fall a martyr to freedom, 
mourned by his people and lovers of freedom throughout the world. 

The stepmother brought into the family one son and two daughters by 
her former marriage. The son, named John, became an intimate associate 
of Abraham, and jointly, as they grew up, they became useful, helpful in 
improving and carrying on the work of the farm. Abraham, when his serv- 
ices were not required at home, frequently went out to labor for the 
neighbors when opportunity offered. He was regarded by the settlers as a 
young lad remarkable for his industry and ability, and by them his services 
were frequently sought and emploj'^ed. He had no superior in physical 
strength, and was pre-eminent in the various athletic feats and festive amuse- 
ments of the day. 

He never made any show or display of his superiority over his associates. 
With a modest estimate of his abilities and powers he never assumed aught 
save the gentleness and simplicity which made him so distinguished. Of the 
many instances of his kindness and goodness of heart we may make one 
record here : ^One evening, returning home from a house-raising in the 
neighborhood, with his companions, a poor drunkard was found by the way- 
side in a helpless condition, lying on the ground. Abraham's companions 
were in favor of leaving him to his fate, but Abraham would not consent. At 
bis request the helpless sot was lifted upon Abraham's shoulders, and he 
carried him a quarter of a mile to the nearest house and nursed the inebriate 
until the next morning. The night had been very cold and he had the 
pleasure of believing that he had saved the drunkard's life. 

In acts of kindness and mercy of similar character in his youth were seen 
the germs of those humane principles, which in his manhood were more ful^y 
and beautifully illustrated in his public life, and in which we can see those 
real ideals of true greatness and excellence, which are valueil as the most 
precious of the Nation's treasures. 



20 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Abraham, from his books, had learned more of his country's liistorythan 
was common to the youth of his day and age who were in like manner situ- 
ated, and we can imagine that with this knowledge he had desires and aspira- 
tions for a life more exalted, and one that would give promise of elevation 
and advancement. He had now arrived at the age when the routine of daily 
labor on tlie farm had become monotonous and irksome, and when the imag- 
ination is fruitful and buoyant, and desires and anticipations are reaching out 
for a more diversified field of labor and attainments. 

The want of a home market for the produce raised on the Lincoln farm 
rendered their labors, in a measure, abortive. Abraham, now eighteen years 
of age, resolved to provide a remedy. He was quite a mechanical genius and 
had acquired, in a considerable degree, the use of carpenter's tools. He 
resolved to build a small flat-boat and ship the produce of the farm to some 
of the towns below, on the Ohio river, for a market. The boat was constructed 
in due time and loaded with the produce of the farm, and Abraham and his 
stepbrother made a successful voyage of some eighty miles and obtained a 
good price for their commodities. 

An incident occurred on this trip, while at one of the landings on the 
river, which made a lasting and pleasant impression on Abraham's memory, 
and which later in life he related to his Secretary, Seward. He said : "As I 
stood at the landing a steamer approached, coming down the river. At the 
same time two passengers came to the river landing who wished to be taken 
out to the steamer with their baggage. Looking at the small boats, they 
singled out my boat and asked me to take them to the steamer. This I did, 
and after seeing them and their trunks on board I had the pleasure of receiv- 
ing a silver half-dollar from each one of my passengers. I could scarcely 
Vjelieve my eyes. You may think it was a very little thing, but it was a most 
important incident in my life. I could scarcely believe that I, a poor boy, 
had earned a dollar in less than a day. The world seemed wider and fairer 
than ever before to me. I was a more hopeful and confident being from 
that time." 

This_ successful enterprise of Abraham in his first voyage and trading 
expedition opened up an opportunity for a more important and responsible 
engagement. A trading merchant of his acquaintance applied to him to take 
charge of a flat-boat and its cargo, and in company with his son to take it 
down to the sugar plantations on the Mississippi river below Natchez. 

. The entire management of the business was placed in Abraham's hands. 
This engagement and responsil)ility speak well for his reputation, for ability 
and integrity. The trader, knowing his tact and honesty, was willing to 
intrust the cargo and his son to his care and management. It was with 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 21 

delight and pleasure that Abraham entered upon this voyage of twelve hun- 
dred miles. He was to see much of the country of wbicli he had read and 
heard, and thought and imagination were now active. He now, at the age of 
19, had grown to be a tall and powerful young man. He was over six feet in 
hight, remarkable even among the tall and athletic race of pioneers of that 
day. 

The cargo consisted mostly of corn and bacon, and the object was to sell 
and barter at the sugar plantations on the banks of the river. To one making 
his first voyage on the Mississippi, the scenery and incidents would be 
naturally exciting and interesting. Many similar crafts would be passed or 
sailed with in company ; villages, towns and sugar plantations, with their 
numerous white tenements for the slaves, would be of interest, and occasion- 
ally steamers would pass and repass. All would be new to Abraham ; all 
■would be garnered up in memory for thought and reflection in after years. 

An incident occurred on the trip which is worthy of note. At a sugar 
plantation below Natchez the boat was landed and tied up at the close of the 
day for the purpose of trade. Abraham and his companion had laid down to 
rest. Late in the night they were awakened by hearing a noise on the shore. 
Abraham asked who is there and what is wanted, but receiving no reply, he 
sprang up and saw seven negroes coming on board, evidently with the mten- 
tion of plunder. Seizing a hand-spike, he at once rushed upon them, and 
knocked the first one on board into the river; the two following were served 
in the same way ; the others, seeing the fate of tiieir companions, turned and 
ran. Abraham and his companion leaped on shore, and following them they 
overtook and severely punished them. As they returned to the boat the 
others made their escape from the water, and all made their flight in the 
darkness as fast as possible. " 

Abraham and his assistant returned on board somewhat bruised in the 
affray. They immediately pushed out from the shore and floated down the 
river some distance, made fast to the bank, and watched until morning. 
The trip and venture were both successful. The cargo was sold; the boat 
w^as disposei} of for lumber, and the young men returned home, making the 
journey partly by steam and on foot, and Abraham received the commenda- 
tion and approbation of his employer for the successful and satisfactory i.ssue 
of the enterprise committed to his^ charge. 

Four years after the second marriage of Abraham's father, Sarah Lincoln 
was married to Aaron Grisby, she being sixteen years of age. She died 
within a year of her marriage, leaving Abraham without brother or sister. 
His devotion and love for her had been most deep, tender and aflectionate. 
and her earlv death was to liim a sad and grievous alHiction. 



22 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The difficulty and labor attending the clearing of the land of the heavy 
growth of timber and preparing the land for cultivation had created a spirit 
of discontent and dissatisfaction in the Lincoln family with their location in 
Indiana. Reports of the prairie lands of Illinois, ready cleared for the plow 
and hoe to make them immediately productive, tended to increase this 
discontent. 

In the Fall of 1829 Dennis Hanks, a cousin of Abraham's mother, was 
sent to Illinois to examine the country and its advantages for settlement. 
He brought a favorable report on his return of the portion of the State he 
visited, and advised their removal to the prairies of Illinois, which he con- 
sidered a very desirable field for enterprise and successful farming operations. 
This report decided the family in favor of removal. 

Mr. Lincoln sold his homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, and in 
March; 1830, he started with his family and two sons-in-law, married to the 
two daughters of his second wife, for a new home. 

Abraham had now reached his majority, but he would remain with the 
family and assist them in their removal, and help his father erect and prepare 
a home for the family. He could not leave the old homestead, where death 
had severed the tender ties of motherhood and sisterhood, until he had 
visited their graves and paid his last tribute of affection, and renew his vows 
of love and devotion to her lessons of wisdom and to her hallowed memory. 

Preparations for the removal having been completed, the Lincoln family 
started on their tedious and difficult journey with two ox-teams. The Spring 
rains had filled the rivers and small streains, and with difficulty through the 
rich, deep soil, the ox-teams drew the wagons loaded with the entire personal 
effects of the emigrants. One of the teams was driven by Abraham. After 
a journey of two hundred miles, which was made in fifteen days, the tired 
emigrants entered Macon county, Illinois, and there, with the almost bound- 
less, fertile prairies on the right and magnificent forests on the left, the 
weary emigrants rested. 

A few days spent in examining and exploring the surrounding country, a 
selection was made by the father of three hundred and twenty acres of 
prairie and timbered land, ten miles west of Decatur, the county seat of 
Macon county. 

Abraham, now twenty-one years of age, with his accustomed goodness 
and liberality, would not leave the home of his childhood and sever the near 
family relations until he had assisted his father in making some improvements 
on the new homestead for the comfort and necessities of the family. The 
first work was the erection of a dwelling. A hewn log cabin of suitable 
dimensions was soon erected, covered with shakes; the doors and windows 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 

■were made of hewn puncheons, and a smoke-house and stable were added. 
Abraham continued his work, and assisted in splitting rails and fencing ten 
acres, and then plowing the land inclosed and planting the same with corn. 

Abraham now realized that his filial duties had been performed. For 
thirteen years in Indiana had he discharged his duties as became a loyal 
member of the household. On his father's farm he had been an efficient and 
faithful helpmate, and an aflFectionate and obedient son, and in the intervals 
of labor and toil had pursued his studies and obtained the rudiments of a 
common education. By his deportment and behavior he gained and secured 
the good will of all with whom he had associated. 

AVhile yet in childhood, he had, by circumstances which seemed to be 
guided by an overruling Providence, been borne away from a land and sur- 
roundings cursed by slavery. He had now become a citizen of a free State, 
where free labor was honored and rewarded. Simple in life and manners, 
knowing nothing of form and ceremony, and caring less, he had grown up 
in fellowship with the people and in companionship with nature in all its 
grandeur and magnificence. 

We have seen how his childhood and boyhood indicated the growth and 
issue of a beneficent and useful manhood, and still may we continue to 
delineate the directing hand of an overruling Providence in his further 
advancement, preparing him for duties and responsibilities grand and benefi- 
cent in their results, successful, noble and humane in their execution. 



CHAPTER III. 

EARLY MANHOOD. 

In the preceding chapters we have briefly noted the childhood and boy- 
hood days of Abraham Lincoln, and delineated to some extent the affectionate 
teachings and wise counsels of a devoted Chri'^tian mother, and the events 
and influences which moulded liis character and the reception of those 
lasting and salutary impressions which had prepared him for a noble and 
useful maturity. 

And now, at the age of twenty-one, as he stands upon his father's 
threshold and looks out upon the world on which he is about to enter and 
take upon himself the duties and burdens of life, are his prospects brilliant, 
and is the imagination buoyant and hopeful in anticipations for the future? 
We think otherwise. No influential friends now stood by his side to give 
him aid or counsel ; he was without money or income ; he was alone in pov- 
erty and in obscurity, and yet he was not despondent. Hope stood by his 
side. He was ambitious, and felt and determined that by his own earnest 
efforts and industry he could and would succeed. 

Guided by the precepts implanted and the noble impulses which glowed 
in his heart, and by the love of that which was good and true, he was led by 
a generous nature, and the lessons of self-reliance to the acqu.sition of a 
practical education and to the unfolding of ail those kind and beneficent 
principles that were maturing within him. 

During the Summer, after leaving home, he was employed by the farmers 
in the neighborhood, and in the following Winter he was engaged in splitting 
rails. Those rails afterward obtained a National reputation, of which men- 
tion will be made in a succeeding chapter. While thus engaged Abraham 
was striving to obtain more lucrative and constant employment. This soon 

came from a direction not anticipated. 

24 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 25 

Early in the Spring of 1831, Denton OfFutt, a trader from Kentucky, 
came to Sangamon county for the purpose of purchasing produce for ship- 
ment to New Orleans. For the transportation of the same he engaged in 
the building of two flat boats on the Sangamon river, near Springfield. 
Abraham, hearing of the enterprise, thought there was an opportunity for 
employment, and he at once resolved to embrace this timely offering and 
leave Macon county. He made his way forty miles to the place where the 
boats were being built, and presenting himself to Mr. OfFutt, he said: 
"My name is Lincoln. I am seeking employment. I have had some 
experience in boating and boat building, and if you are in want of hands 
I think I can give you satisfaction." The appearance of Lincoln, his 
hands and face bronzed by the sun and labor on the farm, and his genial 
and manly address, were to Mr. OfFutt sufficient recommendations, and he 
was employed without delay. During the building of the boats, Mr. OfFutt 
formed so favorable an opinion of Abraham's qualifications, his ability, 
industry and integrity that he gave him charge of the two boats and the 
supervision of the men employed during the voyage down the Sangamon, 
Illinois and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. Mr. OfFutt, while traveling 
over the country for the purpose of purchasing produce for the loading 
of his boats, selected a location for business and trade at New Salem, on 
the Sangamon river, eighteen miles north of Springfield, and made his 
arrangements, on the sale of his produce, to return to that place with a 
stock of general merchandise. In due time the boats were finished and 
loaded, and Lincoln (as he was called) as captain in charge, cast ofF their 
fastenings and they floated away on their voyage to New Orleans, where 
in due time thej' arrived in safety, Mr. Offutt having preceded them by 
steamer. 

This voyage of Lincoln to New Orleans, in connection with a similar 
one made three years previous from Indiana, gave thought and reflection, 
and laid the superstructure of those principles of anti-slavery and free 
labor which in later years became the ruling policy and aim of his political 
life. It was during those voyages, which gave daily opportunities for 
observation and consideration, that Lincoln saw slavery in all it phases 
and effects at the different plantations at which they stopped to trade and 
barter, at the numerous towns and villages on the river, and in New 
Orleans at the auction marts, where daily human beings were offered for 
sale to the highest bidder, where the tender relations of husband and 
wife, parents and child were severed never to be reunited. He saw the 
lordly planter, the pompous overseer, as well as the poor white man and 
his family, ostracized by caste under that regime, bound in fetters by the 
condition of society as strong in many phases as the enslaved around them . 



26 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

This system of African slavery, so repulsive to his feelings and inconsistent 
with his principles and early teachings, he considered in all its different 
aspects and influences on the community and society, and his observations 
• stimulated thought and reflection which gave birth to those principles of free 
soil and free labor and dedicated a life to freedom and to the immutable 
principles of justice and humanity. That Providence which seems " to shape 
our ends, rough hew them as we may," thus brought Lincoln into connec- 
tion with slavery, and here was the inception, the initial point, in his 
political life. The culture and early teachings which he had received 
produced simplicity and charity, and with him the cry of oppression and 
suff-ering found a place in his heart and made lasting and salutary impres- 
sions which will be more plainly and prominently seen and noted, as his life 
became more conspicuous and his labors more effectual in the conflict for 
the right in later years. 

Soon after the arrival of the boats at New Orleans the cargoes and boats 
were sold and a stock of general merchandise was purchased, with which 
Offutt and Lincoln returned to New Salem. A storehouse built of hewn logs, 
16 by 36 feet, with cellar, was rented and the goods displayed for sale, and 
Lincoln was retained in Offutt's employ as chief clerk, at a salary of $25 per 
month and board; and the writer of these memoirs, who lived near the 
village and who had not attained his majority, was employed as assistant at 

a salary of $15 per month. _ . , , ^,, 

Here the writer first met Lincoln and here during a period of fifteen 
months dailv intercourse and business relations an intimate friendship and 
attachment was formed which remained constant and unbroken during Mr. 

Lincoln's life. , ^ • -n 

Mr Offutt, in connection with his store, rented a saw and flouring mill 
located on the Sangamon river, in the immediate vicinity of the store. These 
mills being the onlv ones within an area of twenty miles, brought much 
custom and trade to the store, and being under the supervision of the clerks 
they added much to their labors and duties. 

New Salem at this time was considered a town of considerable importance. 
Two stores, a hotel, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, a saw and flouring mill, with 
some fifteen residences, all log cabins, with as many families, constituted the 
town then in its hight of prosperity, in being the second town in the county in 
population and importance, and the focus of a large trade. The business in 
thfe store being mostly with country traders, was transacted between the hours 
of 9 A. M. and 3 P. M., giving several hours in the day in which one of the 
clerks could perform all the duties required in the store. It was on those 
occasions that Lincoln frequently would, for an hour at the close of the day, 
enga-e in athletic sports, such as wrestling, jumping, pitching quoits or 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLIN. 27 

heavy weights and Bimilar exercises, diversions pecuhar to and common to 
that day and age. The store was usually closed at 7 p. m., when occasionally 
an evening would be spent with some family or young people in the village, 
and those occasional visits or calls were seasons of mutual pleasure and grati- 
fication. Lincoln's humorous fund of anecdotes and stories made him a 
welcome visitor at all times. The most of the evenings, however, after 
closing the store, were, from 8 to 11 o'clock, employed by Lincoln in reading 
and study; a short time then was spent in reviewing the reading of the 
evening, and then blankets were spread upon the counter and the inmates 
retired to rest on their hard couch, which prepared them for the labors and 
duties of the coming day. 

Lincoln at this time and thus early had his thoughts and purposes fixed 
on the studj'^ of law, and his course of reading and study tended in that direc- 
tion. Soon after he entered the store he procured Murray's Grammar, and 
from a Justice of the place he borrowed Blackstone's Commentaries. He 
devoted his leisure time to the study of those two books, occasionally reading 
the histories of the United States, England, Rome and Greece. In his small 
collection of books he had secured the poetical works of Cowper, Gray and 
Burns. 

The writer has pleasant memories of the days and nights spent with 

Lincoln in the log store. Our relations at that time were in some respects 

similar. Both at that time had recently left our parental homes to enter upon 
the duties and responsibilities of life, both had mourned the loss of mothers 

in our earlier years, and both had been in a measure reared in the new and 
sparsely populated Western States. Those relations, and Lincoln's stu- 
dious habits, which made the store his abiding place, drew closer the ties 
of friendship and attachment from those considerations. Many were the 
evenings in which our thoughts arid conversation turned to our boyhood days, 
and to a recital of the incidents and experience of our childliood. Those 
reminiscences of Lincoln, the recital of his youthful experience, his pleasures 
mingled with his hardships, the filial devotion exhibited, and his love and 
tenderness for the memory of his mother and sister, are treasured up as 
pleasant memories. 

The pleasant companionship of Lincoln, his affable, genial, social bearing 
towards and with all persons of whatever condition of life at this period of his 
early history, found a generous return in confidence and respect which was 
manifested towards him by his neighbors and fellow-citizens on every fitting 
occasion. Lincoln made his home with the family of John Cameron, the owner 
of the mills rented by OfFutt. He was a minister of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian Church. The family, father, mother, son and two daughters, who had 
arrived at adult years, were exemplary Christians. Mrs. Cameron was an 



r I 



28 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

excellent woman whose hallowed influences reached out beyond the family- 
circle, and her motherly kindness and counsels to Lincoln reminded him of 
the advice and instructions of a dear departed mother, which were guiding 
him in the battle of life and leading him on and upward to a noble, useful 
life. 

The facilities and sources of obtaining information and mental improve- 
ment at that period, in the new and sparsely populated settlements of the 
then far West, were few and limited. Libraries, lyceums and public reading 
rooms were even in the largest towns not yet established, but few newspapers 
and periodicals were then isublished, and book stores were rare and limited 
in their quantity and variety. The St. Louis "Republican" and Louisville 
"Journal," weeklies, were then the leading newspapers published in the 
West, and their weekly visit to Lincoln were of special interest. The latter 
was his favorite, as he was in accord with its politics and had a special relish 
for its sparkling wit and humor. 

During the AVinter that Lincoln was employed in the store, debating 
clubs were occasionally held in an unoccupied store-room in the village, which 
he frequently attended, and in which he made his first essay in speech making. 
These discussions, primitive and simple in their character, in which Lincoln 
participated, exhibited the germ of those logical and argumentative powers 
of reasoning for which he was distinguished in his subsequent life. His con- 
versational and mental powers already indicated that peculiarity of mind and 
thought which was in after life so beautifully illustrated in his genial good 
nature and kind words, which are the precursor of good and noble deeds. 
His courteous, pleasant deportment, his ready wit and humorous stories, 
made him a favorite with all, and it was a pleasure which he enjoyed, to 
observe the respect and esteem in which hg was held by those with whom 
he was daily forming acquaintance. He had already desires for public recog- 
nition, and aspirations for political distinction, and he also realized that he 
had difficulties and obstacles to overcome in that direction. With a limited 
education, without means and influential friends to assist him, he was 
impressed with the reality that, in his case, the eminence of popularity and 
fame must be reached by his own efforts, industry and perseverence ; and 
with a laudable ambition he had the confidence in his resources and abilities 
that if properly directed he would succeed. Lincoln's studious habits and 
his close attention to his books and to all the appliances within his reach, 
for advancement, tended to bring him into notice and attraction, and many 
were the favorable comments relative to his present efforts and future success. 
Mr. Offutt, the proprietor of the store, in the fervor of his admiration for 
Lincoln's advancement and progress, said : " That for Lincoln's opportuni- 
ties he has no superior in the United States." The Governor of Indiana, after 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 

meeting and converBing with Lincoln, said to a friend : " Tliat young man 
has talent enough in him to make a President." Similar enconiums were 
frequently made by those who were familiar with and proper judges of 
Lincoln's habits and nobility of character. These expressions of admiration, 
by friends, of his labors and efforts for success, and in \\anning and securing 
the esteem and confidence of the people, which came to his knowledge and 
notice, strengthened his purposes and gave him zeal and encouragement to 
overcome obstacles and master emergencies. Mr. Otfutt continued his 
business some twelve months at New Salem, under the supervision of Lincoln, 
The enterprise in connection with the mills not proving as remunerative as 
he expected, he closed his business at that place and left for other fields of 
speculation. 

About the time that Oflfutt closed his business in New Salem some parties 
became interested in steamboating,for the purpose of running up the Sangamon 
river to a point on the river six miles west of Springfield, the countj' seat, 
and thirty miles above New Salem, believing that the river could be navigated 
by steamer several months in the year. Lincoln and the writer now being 
out of employment, and believing that New Salem offered good facilities for a 
shipping point, in connection with the steamboat enterprise, purchased a large 
log building at this point on the river and made preparation before the arrival 
of the steamer for a storage, forwarding and commission business. As 
was anticipated, in due time the steamer arrived freighted with flour, 
groceries and merchandise for traders in the interior. The arrival of the 
steamer was an event of great interest to the citizens of the village and adja- 
cent country, who had assembled in large numbers on the bank of the river 
to witness the success of an enterprise which was of importance to the town 
and county. The boat landed a part of her cargo at the warehouse and pro- 
ceeded up the river to its point of destination, where it arrived in safety. The 
success of the enterprise now seemed assured. The return of the steamer, 
however, was now looked for with much interest and solicitude. If the return 
should be successful the enterprise would have succeeded as desired. 
On the fourth day the steamer made its appearance on its return in a 
ruinous condition. Difficulties in descending the river had been encountered 
which had not been anticipated and which could not be avoided or 
overcome; the river was found to be rapid, narrow and crooked and diffi- 
cult of navigation down stream by steamboats. The steamer was continually 
running into the banks of the river and into the tops of trees that grew on 
and over the banks of the river, and the result was that the cabin and 
upper parts of the boat were badly broken and injured. From New Salem 
the steamer floated down the river, with long oars on stern and bow to 
keep her as near as possible in the middle of the river. After several 



30 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

days, with difficulty the steamer reached*Beardstown, badly injured, and the 
enterprise was abandoned. The failure of the steamboat undertaking 
carried with it the warehouse enterprise of Lincoln and the writer of these 
memoirs, and with this failure was closed the daily business relations for 
fifteen months, of Lincoln and the writer. The very pleasant, friendly and 
intimate fellowship which had grown up during that period continued during 
the life of Lincoln and was most kindly and fully manifested towards 
the writer during the period of President Lincoln's administration. 
'The failure of the warehouse enterprise left Lincoln at liberty to respond 
to the call of his fellow. citizens, which soon came, calling him to a different 
vocation, which position he accepted and duly honored. 

The past fifteen months of Lincoln's history may not appear to the 
casual observer as a period of remarkable or of special interest, but it was 
otherwise. He had laid the foundation of his future life. He had made 
the first advance, the Jfirst step on that long and toilsome road that led 
him onward and upward to that summit of honor and renown which he so 
honorably attained. It was at this time he took his stand for freedom, for 
the oppressed of every clime and color, for our soil to be ever dedicated to 
freedom and to the principles of home protection as advocated by the 
great American^statesman, Henry Clay. He had chosen the profession of 
law. He had read and studied much and had made himself acquainted 
with the history of his country and the position and standing of the statesmen 
and politicians of the day, and was jn-eparing himself for any step in advance 
that might ofi'er. His employment had' given him opportunities to make 
numerous, and to him, valuable acquaintances, which became warm and 
useful friends, whose respect and esteem he ever afterwards enjoyed. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OUTLINE OF PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTER. 

Mr. Lincoln, in the days of his prosperity and popularity, often referred 
to his advent into New Salem and his employment as clerk in Oflfutt's store as 
the period in which was laid the foundation of his success in after life. He 
came there an entire stranger, without means or influential friends, but 
he came with a disposition for usefulness and faithfulness for his employer, 
with a heart noble and true and with a determination to improve all oppor- 
tunities for advancement and progress. The employment seemed favorable 
and timely. He would necessarily form an extensive acquaintance, and his 
opportunity for appication to study and acquiring knowledge and information 
was favorable. While he was attentive to business and to all the interests 
of his employer, he gave his leisure hours to study and to the acquisition of 
useful information. In studying Murray's Grammar he often remarked, 
" that it was very dry reading, but that he would master the general prin- 
ciples," which he did; but his correct mastery of the language was acquired 
more from reading and writing than from study. From Blackstone's 
Commentaries he acquired those moral, legal and political principles 
that gave bias to his character and form to his study. The selection 
of books for reading and study indicated a mind and judgment rarely 
found in one of his age and attainments. It was usual for him, 
after reading and studying Murray or Blackstone for two or three hours, to 
take up Burns' poems, which he read much and admired greatly. He read 
with that hilarity which usually was so peculiar to him, some of the most 
humorous productions of that versatile poet, his favorite selections being 
Tom O'Shanter, Address to the Dial, Highland Mary, Bonny Jeane and Dr. 
Hornbook. Having a very retentive memory he soon became familiar with 
these poems and many others ; and his frequent quotations from tliem 
indicated the humorous inclination of his mind in his early life. There were 
times, however, when his countenance and actions indicated more serious 

thoughts, and memory was busy with incidents of his boyhood days. He 

31 



32 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

then would read the Cotter's Saturday Night, or Grey's Elegy, or one of 
Cowper's poems. The reading of the poets was subordinate to his general 
studies. He often said that he only read them as a relish or dessert after 
taking the more solid and substantial food. At a more advanced period, 
when he became engaged in his law studies, those works were laid aside ; 
but their contents were retained in his memory, and he often made quotations 
from them when an occasion offered. 

His close application to his books, his studious habits, his desire and 
efforts to obtain information relative to the character and principles of the 
statesmen and politicians of the countrj^ and age, brought him in that respect 
into marked distinction and contrast witli the people, and he was looked upon 
at that time as one who would in the near future make himself distinguished 
in the history of the State. 

The question has often been asked, and perhaps to some never satisfac- 
torily answered, what were Lincoln's Christian principles and belief in his 
early life ? We are prepared to say that at no period of Lincoln's life did he 
ever doubt the authenticity, truth and inspiration of the Holy Bible. Its 
sacred truths, which were implanted in his heart by a fond Christian mother, 
lost none of their worth or value to him in his youth or mature years. Its 
moral precepts were the rule of his conduct, which his life exhibited in 
Christian acts and deeds. 

Lincoln was naturally secretive and taciturn in all matters in which the 
public were not particularly interested, and this peculiarity in regard to his 
Christian experience, which was passive, tended to silence and reserve on 
that subject. He said on one occasion, " When any church will inscribe over 
its altar as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed state- 
ment of the substance of both law and gospel : ' Thou shalt love the Lord 
th}^ God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thj^ strength, 
and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church I will join with all my heart and all 
my soul." 

In a preceding chapter reference was made to Lincoln's occasionally 
attending a debating club in New Salem. On one occasion a subject was 
brought forward for debate in which he took part, which is worthy of note 
here, as the question involved unfolded the great and ruling princii)les of 
Lincoln's political life. The question for debate was : " Are the principles 
and policy of African slavery so unjust, and the evils thereof of such magni- 
tude as to make the colonization and emancipation of the enslaved colored 
race in the United States necessaiy and desirable for the welfare of the 
American people?" The subject was suggested by Lincoln, and as it was 
known that he would take part in the debate a large number were in attend- 
ance, both men and women, from the town and country. The occasion 



OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 33 

called out the best talent, ministers, doctors and school teachers taking part 
in the debate. Lincoln assumed the affirmative of the question. We can 
only note some of the principal points in his argument. He first spoke of 
the natural rights of all men — " Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 
Those rights were all coequal and inalienable, and no argument or soph- 
istry could establish ©r prove the right or justice of African slavery. " But," 
said Lincoln, " there is a national and personal view to take of this question. 
The object and aim of our Government is and should be to elevate and dignify 
free labor, to make the laboring man a peer of any employed in the different 
avocations and pursuits of life. We see and know that the effects and results 
of slavery are to degrade labor and to make it despicable and to bring it into 
contempt. Those of us who came from the slave States know from obser- 
vation and experience that the condition of the poor white man there is a 
hopeless one, and that by the side of slavery, which brands labor with 
degradation and disgrace, the condition of the poor white laborer and his 
family is without hope in the present as well as for the future. Society there 
takes the form of an aristocracy instead of an equality, and caste, which is 
inimical to our republican institutions, becomes a fixed and deleterious prin- 
ciple in our body politic. Nor is this all. Emigration from rather than to 
the slave States is the consequence, an absence of enterprise and skill in 
the manufacturing and mechanical arts is everywhere apparent, and the 
avenues of distinction, honor and preferment are closed except to the few, 
and this is the state and condition of society in the slave States which is 
thus fostered and created. Nor are these the worst and saddest features of 
the direful incubus resting upon the glory and prosperity of our country. 
Already we see and hear premonitions of danger to our nation and our free 
institutions. A spirit of opposition to slavery is abroad in the free States 
and is growing, and it requires no prophet to tell the result. This much we 
may say here, that it portends the creation of a state of feeling between the 
free and the slave States which is fearful to contemplate, and which bodes no 
good to our country and to our free institutions. If we remove this disturbing 
element by colonization and emancipation, the evils I have stated will vanish 
and pass away ; our Union will continue firm and united and our unsettled 
vast public domain will become the homes of a free, happy and prosperous 
people." 

The writer has here briefly given an outline of Lincoln's argument on 
that occasion. They are recollections of his notes written in the store even- 
ings previous to their delivery. 

Thus early in his life, before political influences or prospect of place or 
power had warped his judgment or corrupted his principles, he clearly enun- 
ciated the great and fundamental truths which he had resolved to support 



34 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and maintain in his future life. This debate, and other questions in which 
Lincoln occasionallj' took a part in the debating club, gave him notoriety 
and distinction with the public and prepared the way for an early recogni- 
tion of his abilities and principles. 

Lincoln's mode of address on any subject which he desired to enforce or 
illustrate was usually of a plain and unimpassioned character. He reasoned 
by comparison and analogy and made his points by apt illustrations and with 
that sincerity and earnestness of manner which usually carried conviction to 
the minds of his hearers. A current of humor, which was a peculiar charac- 
teristic of the man, was often interwoven in his conversation and illustrations 
of any subject, and this became more noted in his political speeches and 
addresses later in his life. 

One of the most pleasant and amiable traits of Lincoln's character was 
his modest estimate of his own powers and acquisitions, and this was marked 
in his early life. There was an entire absence of self-importance and con- 
ceit, while truthfulness and the simplicity of childhood were the germs of 
that i)Ower which gave him success and populai'ity, and which has no prece- 
dent or similitude in the history of the distinguished men of our country. 

Athletic and active, Lincoln occasionally, as opportunity offered and busi- 
ness and study would permit, joined in the field and out-door sports of 
which young men are fond. He participated in these pastimes with zest 
and pleasure, and on those occasions his presence was always welcomed with 
pleasure by his associates, and in the adjustment of all questions or dis- 
putes arising in their sports or plays, Lincoln was usually selected as umpire, 
and his rulings were given so humorously and kindlv that thev seldom failed 
to give satisfaction to all. These amusements, however, were only occa- 
sionally indulged in by Lincoln.| ^They were never allowed to interfere with 
his duties or studies. He had early resolved that his leisure hours must 
be chiefly devoted to the acquirement of practical knowledge and useful 
information. Naturally of a jovial and merry temperament in his youth, it 
was remarkable that he only, on special occasions, spent any evenings in 
social amusements or entertainments, and in this resolution he was immov- 
able, and no prospect or promise of pleasure could draw him from the hours 
devoted to his books and the course and means he had adopted to oV)tain 
practical and useful knowledge. With such interest and devotion did he 
employ his time in study and manual labor, denying himself of those 
pleasures and amusements that young men usually consider necessary and 
essential, that he could truly have said Avith one of the ancient sages, 
"What others give to public shows and entertainments, to festivities and 
amusements, nay, , even to mental and bodily rest, I give to study and 
philosophy."^* His physical labors were preparing him for that mental and 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 

corporal endurance which the severe and important toil that his subse- 
qenut life demanded, and his reading and studies were preparing his mind 
and forming his principles for the great work which was in the unseen 
future before him. 

From the life of Washington and the teachings of the Fathers of the 
Republic he imbibed those immortal principles which fired his heart to an 
honorable emulation and a true patriotism until he had conceived and 
obtained that spirit which constituted him a true leader and wise counselor. 
The life of the great commoner and statesman, Henry Clay, and his 
speeches in Congress, were read and admired by Lincoln, and from the 
teachings of that eminent statesman he received his first political lessons, 
and his political principles he early espoused and firmly adhered to during 
his life. The science of government and train of thought which he received 
from that distinguished civilian closely identified him with the interest and 
heart of the common people, and as one of them, he understood their 
wants and feelings, and early in life he formed and clierished those resolves 
and principles which had for their object and aim the enfranchisement of 
the oppressed, the elevation of free labor and toil and the amelioration of 
the race. 

Thus, day by day, amidst the sturdy pioneers of the great West, was 
he preparing and putting on the armor, offensive and defensive, which 
coming events rendered appropriate and necessary. One has said, "Lap of 
luxury and hours of ease send not forth the arms that move the world ; he 
w'ho is drawn aloft by the force of circumstances becomes the noblest soul 
and the mightiest power." The teachings and surroundings of his early 
life, with its varied struggles, had made him one of the laboring classes, 
and no elevation in society or office diminished his respect or severed his 
connection with the men of labor and toil. Closely identified with the 
common jieople, he fully realized the principle which through his life he ever 
maintained, that in our Republican Government, where the people are the 
sovereigns, labor should be honored and receive its apropriate reward. 
With the yeomanry of the Prairie State, already the great work of Lin- 
coln's life had began. The simple debate in the debating club, in the log 
store in New Salem, indicated the principles and sentiments which, in their 
fruition, have made his name immortal, and his country, in prosperity and 
grandeur, the most sublime and exalted among the nations of the earth. 

In closing this chapter we may note some characteristics of Lincoln which 
were apparent only to his most intimate friends. He was ambitious in the 
fullest sense of the word. He desired the respect, the confidence and appro- 
bation of his fellow citizens. He desired peace, power and preferment above 



36 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES ' 

his fellows, and for this he had labored, struggled, and had succeeded. In 
this he was ambitious, but in all this he sought to promote the interests and 
welfare of the people, to secure their respect and regard, and their approval 
and commendation of the principles and policy he advocated and entertained. 
He was very secretive, cautious and I'eserved in communicating his desires, 
plans and expectations to any one. He seldom disclosed his political schemes 
or purposes to his most intimate friends — never until in his own mind he had 
matured his plans and resolved on their execution. To his fellow citizens he 
did not appear as a politician and schemer ; still he was wonderfully full of 
politics and policy. To the close observer and student of his administration 
there will be found more policy in it than in any preceding administration in 
our country's history. We may give a notable incident illustrating this 
secretive characteristic of Lincoln, which occurred during his remarkable 
contest with Douglas. During their celebrated debates Lincoln had prepared 
some interrogatories which he proposed to present to Douglas. His friends, 
on their examination of them, remonstrated. . They said: "If you put that 
question to him he will perceive that an answer giving practical force and 
effect to the Dred Scott decision in the Territories inevitably loses him the 
battle, and he will therefore reply by offering the decision as an abstract 
principle, denying its practical application." Lincoln replied : "If he does 
that he never can be President." His friends replied: " That is not your 
lookout. You are after the Senatorship." Lincoln said: "No, gentlemen, 
I am killing larger game. The battle of 1860 is worth a hundred of this." 

This answer startled his friends, as it was the first intimation they had 
that he had thoughts and aspirations for the Presidency. 

The answer of Douglas was as he probably anticipated, and the results 
that followed were equal to his most ardent and sanguine expectations. 



CHAPTER Y. 

EARLY MILITARY RECORD — BLACK HAWK WAR. 

In 1832 Black Hawk, Chief of the Sacs and Foxes, with his warriors, in 
violation of the treaty made with him at Rock Island, in 1831, returned from 
the Territory of Iowa to Illinois, on Rock river, causing much alarm, and 
committed many depredations on the inhabitants. The Governor of Illinois 
called for volunteers to act in concert with the regular troops, to repel the 
invasion. Lincoln, being now out of employment, was one of the first 
toenlist in a company that was being raised at New Salem. As soon 
as the company was filled an election for officers was ordered and held, 
and Lincoln was elected Captain of the company, without opposition. 
The volunteers were mounted and were called out for sixty days, and 
Lincoln, with his company, was ordered to join the battalion to which it was 
attached, at Beardstown, from which point they marched to Rock river, to 
join the main army, near Rock Island. On arriving at this point the volun- 
teers, not waiting for the regular troops, continued their march up Rock 
river, forty miles, to Dixon's Ferry. They were joined here by two 
battalions of mounted volunteers from Peoria, who had gone; into camp the 
evening previous on Sycamore creek, twenty miles distant, and while in camp 
they were surprised and attacked by Black Hawk and his band, and driven 
from their camp, with the loss of eleven men. This rout is known in history 
as Stillman's defeat. The attack was made between sunset and dark, and was 
a complete surprise. The volunteers, having pitched their camp for the night, 
were in the act of staking out their horses, and the cooks were preparing sup- 
per, when the Indians came upon them with their yells and war whoops. The 
volunteers took no method in the order of their going — many on horseback 
without saddles, others on foot — all in disorder and panic stricken. Many 
continued their retreat until they reached the main camp, twenty miles 
distant. A council of war was immediately held, and General Whitesides, the 
chief in command of the volunteers, ordered an immediate march to the 

battle ground, but the savages, anticipating the movement, had left the field, 

37 



38 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

laden with the spoils of victory, after having enjoyed a hearty supper. 
The volunteers of the State went into camp near the battlefield, where 
they remained several days, awaiting the arrival of the regular troops. 
In the sports and diversions of the camp, the New Salem company soon 
became the most noted for its athletic amusements, and Captain Lincoln as 
the best story teller and relater of anecdotes which the corps produced, and 
his headquarters soon became famous for its jollity and genial companion- 
ship. 

in a few days the regular troops arrived and joined the volunteers, when 
eflforts were made to overtake the Indians, but without success. They broke 
up into different bands, one of which made an attack on a settlement near 
Ottowa, killing fifteen persons and taking captive two young women. 
Before the Indians could be found or reached the term of service of the 
volunteers expired and they were discharged, and many returned home. 
Others remained under a new call. With these was Captain Lincoln, who 
had volunteered for the war, and proposed to remain in the service until the 
Indians were subdued. A month of marching and pursuit followed, with no 
decisive results. Some fighting occurred near Galena and at Burr Oak 
Grove, but the Indians made good their retreat. The Indians at 
last were overtaken on the Wisconsin river by a portion of the 
forces under General Henry, and routed, with a loss of sixty-eight killed 
and a large number wounded ; and finally, as the main body of the Indians 
had reached the Mississippi river and were in the act of crossing, they were 
again overtaken by the troops and the battle of Bad Axe occurred, which 
resulted in the utter defeat of the Indians, and the capture of Black Hawk 
and the most of his warriors. 

While the Blackhawk war was barren of any remarkable incidents, or the 
establishment of any distinguished military reputations, we may record one 
fact, that two of the homeliest and truest men engaged in it became afterwards 
commanders in chief of the armies of the Union, and Presidents of the United 
States, viz: (Then Colonel) Zachary Taylor and Captain Abraham Lincoln. 

During this campaign Lincoln made many valuable acquaintances and 
friends ; one among the number was John T. Stuart, Major of the Spy 
Battalion, afterwards member of Congress. He bore testimony to the great 
popularity of Lincoln with the soldiers, because of his care of his men, of his 
good nature and his ability to tell more stories and better ones than any man 
in the battalion. One wlio served under him in the New Salem company 
stated that he was a faitliful officer, personally interested in the welfare of 
his men, prompt in the discharge of his duties; and this was the unanimous 
testimony of the members of his company. 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 

Lincoln returned from his militarj'^ campaign to New Salem ten days 
before the election of members of the Legislature of the State, and was at 
once requested to allow his name to be placed on the Whig ticket as a candi- 
date for the Sangamon District. He was then twenty-three years of age. 
The nomination was a surprise to him, and his political principles did not 
promise success in the county, largely Democratic at that time. The can- 
vass, however, showed his popularity in his own township. He received 277 
votes out of 284, polled a vote unprecedented in the history of politics, and 
although he was defeated in the District it was the only occasion in which he 
ever failed in a popular election. 

Lincoln was now out of employment, but he could not remain idle. A 
merchant of New Salem, wishing to retire from business, offered his stock of 
goods to Lincoln on credit. The offer was accepted and the goods purchased, 
and Lincoln taking a partner, the business was conducted under the firm of 
Lincoln & Berry. The enterprise proved a failure ; the goods were old and 
unsalable. Berry, Lincoln's partner, was wild and dissipated in his habits, 
and at the end of twelve months the partnership was dissolved, and Lincoln 
retired from the business with some valuable experience and a debt which he 
said afterwards was as bad as the " national debt," as it took him several 
years to liquidate it, which he did to tlie utmost farthing. While 
engaged in merchandising he was appointed by President Jackson 
Postmaster at New Salem, an office of no pecuniary value. It was the first 
civil office he held, and one that gave him much pleasure, from the oppor- 
tunity it allowed him of reading the papers and periodicals taken at the office. 
The appointment was too trivial to be considered of any political importance. 
He received it because of his popularity and his ability to make out tl;e 
official returns. 

Lincoln had now, by experience, ascertained that he could not succeed 
as a merchant. His heart was too full of the milk of human kindness to 
refuse credit, even to those that he had reason to believe would never be 
able to pay. He had no tact for the •collection of store bills, and to com- 
pel the payment from his friends and neighbors by law — the thought for a 
moment could not be entertained. The business of merchant not proving 
a success, and the Postoffice yielding no revenue, some other employment 
became necessary. The daily wants, food and raiment, must be supplied 
and that by his own labor and daily toil. The bread of idleness Lincoln 
had never eaten, and he fully recognized the Divine injunction, " that by 
the sweat of his brow his bread must be obtained." In looking for employ- 
ment it came from a quarter wholly unexpected. 

John Calhoun, afterwards of Lecompton notoriety, was at that time 
Surveyor of Sangamon county, which embraced the territory now included 



40 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

in four counties. The large immigration to the State at that time and the 
daily location of jniblic lands increased largely the labors and duties in 
the Surveyor's office, and the Surveyor, ifi looking for assistance, employed 
Lincoln as a deputy, and gave him the territory now embraced in the 
county of Mernard, for his field of operations. 

This appointment found Lincoln unprepared for the work. He had no 
knowledge of surveying, and was but little acquainted with the science upon 
which it was based. He procured the proper books and engaged with 
earnestness to prepare himself in the shortest possible time for the work on 
which he was about to enter. In a short time he made himself acquainted 
with the rudiments of the profession and he then purchased a compass and 
chain and entered upon his work. His employment procured him food and 
raiment, and what to him seemed more desirable, books ; for during the period 
he was engaged in this work he was a constant student, and was preparing 
himself by obtaining knowledge and information for other fields of labor. 
He continued in this employment with success and with such correctness 
that the accuracy of his work and surveys has never been called in question, 
and he only relinquished his work for the time being, as the people were 
about to call him to a more dignified and exalted station. 

Three years had now passed since Lincoln had left the enjoyments and 
endearments of the parental home, for life's duties and responsibilities. Dur- 
ing that period he had discharged the duties of flat-boat captain, merchant's 
cleik, Captain of Volunteers, Postmaster and surveyor, with fidelity and 
ability, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his employers, and had 
gained the respect and esteem of all with whom he had become acquainted. 

A writer has well said : " No man has ever lived who was more a self- 
made man than Abraham Lincoln." The same writer says : " Not a circum- 
stance of his life favored the development which he reached." This latter 
statement is hardly correct. Indeed, it may be stated that the circumstances 
and surroundings which had attended him for the past three years were 
favorable to his aspirations, his hopes and efforts, and to his success in laying 
broad and solid the foundations of his future attainments and developments 
as a great and good man. His voyages on the flat-boats to New Orleans, 
through the slave States, gave him a knowledge and insight into the effects 
and influences of slavery which he could not have obtained by reading or 
otherwise, and quick to see and discern the evils and results flowing from 
that servile instiution, thus early in his mind were fixed the great injustice 
and wrongs of slavery, and broad and deep were laid those true principles of 
right and justice which became the prominent features of his future i)olitical 
life. Hie ofl^icial connection with the Black Hawk war brought him in contact 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 41 

with, and made him acquainted with many prominent citizens, associated 
with the vokinteei's from diflerent parts of the State, and those of his com- 
mand, gave him notoriety and prominence, which follows favorably all 
popular military officers. His occupations as clerk, merchant, Postmaster 
and surveyor, gave him access to the people, and a large and extensive 
acquaintance in the county in which he resided. Those circumstances, 
improved as they were, certainly favored his success in after life. 

The immigration to Illinois during this period of Lincoln's life was 
unprecedented in the history of the country. Pioneers from the sunny South, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and the Middle and Eastern States, were sending 
in great numbers brave men and women to settle the broad and fertile plains 
of the Prairie State. Ilardj'^ sons of toil, with means limited, but buoyant 
with hope and expectations for the future, with sterling hearts of integrity 
filled with kindness and hospitalitj' to all. 

It was a State wonderful in progress, a community grand in its concep- 
tions for the future, and successful in its labors and aspirations for pre-emi- 
nence ; a field of promise in which Lincoln, with his labors, desires and 
hopcf^, might well strive for success. He was poor, and his necessities com- 
pelled him to labor for his dailj' bread, among those who considered la^ or 
not derogatory nor detrimental to moral worth and to aspirations for a higlier 
and more perfect character. His personal appearance, rough and homely, 
brought in contact with the refined and cultivated, possibly would not have 
been appreciated or commanded their respect and regard. He had ro 
teachers, few books and no learned and intellectual companions, and it 
would not have been well had it been otherwise. From the character of his 
reading and studies we can see that he was fully qualified to direct and 
choose his plans and purposes for the future. His temperament was hopeful, 
not buoyant. Faith in himself was sufficient to form purposes, and wlien 
formed to carry them to their final consumation. Pie was firm and positive 
in his convictions of right, and purposes were not made without study and 
investigation; but when matured, no dazzling prospect of place or preferment 
moved him from what he believed to be the right. 

That at this time he had political aspirations there can be no doubt. 
That he had honorable and strong desires for popularity and place in his 
growisig State is true; and knowing this we can realize to some extent how 
strong were those convictions of right and principle. In a State then largely 
Democratic, he took his stand with the minority and steadily adhered to those 
principles during his entire life. He did so, believing that those principles 
were founded on right and justice, and that in the future they would prevail — 
and the result of his political life pioved the correctness and wisdom of his 
choice. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHARACTERISTICS. 

The attainments of Lincoln at this early age, and his persistent, patient 
labors for success indicated characteristics marked and peculiar.. His habits 
of study, his selection of books for study, and his efforts and method to obtain 
knowledge and information of the past and present history of his country and 
of the prominent men of the age, were often subjects of remark by his intimate 
friends. Gifted with a memory remarkable, elastic and retentive, valuable 
information and thoughts were treasured up to be used as opportunity and 
occasion might require. His method of investigating all questions of a public 
or political character, was to give both sides a thorough and critical exami- 
nation and then form his opinions and conclusions. 

Wanting in those personal attractions which are the envy of every circle, 
still his pleasant ways, his endearing good nature, his way of telling stories 
and anecdotes, gave him access to all; and whether with the learned or 
unlearned, the refined or unrefined, he was always welcomed as one that 
made the company or circle complete, and in all places and at all times he 
found men and women to love and respect him. This popularity and the 
public favor he had attained, were the results of the outward manifestations 
of the purity of his life and the goodness of his heart. 

Lincoln, at this period of his life, was not a religious man. He was not 
a member of any church, nor did he subscribe to any religious creed, but deep 
in his heart and nature was implanted a religious structure which was truly 
perfect. He had read and studied the Bible much, in his childhood and 
youth. He believed in God, and that His moral and natural laws directed 
and contoUed the affairs of men and nations. He believed that he and all 
created beings were under His guidance and control. He believed in the 
success a.nd final triumph of the right through the providence of God. He 
recognized liis accountal)ility to his Creator, and sacred relations between his 
God and himself in all the purposes of his life. The lessons of piety and 
trust in tlie Great Author of his being, earlv implanted bv a Christian mother, 
42 ■ " ' 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 43 

ran through and softened all the experiences of his after life. The great 
command, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," was to him a daily sense of duty, 
and he made it a rule in his life " to do unto others as he would have them 
do unto him." It was this principle that governed his actions and produced 
the grand results of his life. He held in reverence the Christian religion, and 
men of earnest piety and true devotion were held by him in much respect and 
esteem. The name of his Creator was only mentioned with reverence; 
habits of dissipation he never acquired in any form ; dissimulation and false- 
hood to him seemed abhorrent and were never employed. He was precisely 
what he appeared, awkward and original, social and genial. He had no 
desire for fine dress or apparel, no taste for show or display in any way or 
form ; and it was that childlike simplicity, directness and truthfulness which 
he cherished in his manhood, which was the secret of his power and success 
in public life. 

This narrative of Lincoln's studious habits and character, representing 
perfect manhood, is written by one who enjoyed bis friendship throughout 
life and who reveres his memory. It is a mirror in which all may look with 
pleasure and profit, and one in which the young men of our country may see 
lessons of encouragement, with hopes of success if the example given are 
followed with industry and perseverence through life. It was said of Lincoln 
at that time, and said truly: "Lincoln has nothing except perseverence, 
popularity and plenty of friends." What could be more essential to success? 

A friend of Lincoln, who was a student at the Jacksonville College, and 
whose home was near New Salem, during a vacation brought home with him 
Kichard Yates and a number of other students, and as they all had heard of 
Lincoln they all went up to New Salem to see him. They found him at his 
usual occupation, when not otherwise engaged, reading. This time it was a 
newspaper, and he was laying on his back, outside the store, on the cellar 
door. Yates and Lincoln here first formed their acquaintance and were soon 
engaged in conversation. The friends listened to the speakers, never giving 
thought to the fact that one was to become the war Governor of Illinois and 
the other President of the United States. 

Two years had now passed since Lincoln was appointed Deputy Surveyor, 
and since his failure at an election as a member of the Legislature. He had 
become, during this i»eriod, more extensively acquainted with the voters of 
his county, and had frequently addressed his fellow-citizens on tlie political 
topics of the day. His style of address was novel, impressive, forcible and 
popular with the people, and his future was held by the voters of his county 
to be one of promise. 

In 1834 he was again nominated on the Whig ticket for the Legislature. 
He made an entire canvass of the county, which at that period embraced the 



44 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

present counties of Sangamon, Mernard, Logan and Christian. Two Senators 
and seven members of the lower house, the entire Whig ticket, was elected, 
Lincoln receiving the highest vote on the ticket. It was during this canvass 
that he became more intimately acquainted with. John T. Stuart, a brother 
officer in the Black Hawk war, afterwards a member of Congress. Major 
Stuart had during the canvass became warmly attached to Lincoln and 
formed an exalted opinion of his abilities ; and pleased with his purposes and 
determination to achieve success he advised him to pursue, by every means 
and effort, the study of law. Lincoln informed him that he had made choice 
of that profession, but for the want of funds and books he was not making the 
progress he desired. Major Stuart was at that time engaged in the profession 
of law in Springfield and had an extensive and lucrative practice. He at once 
offered to loan Lincoln all the law books he required for his studies, and he 
accepted the offer with pleasure. 

The canvass in this election was warmly contested. The parties in the 
county were closely divided, and although the field was new to Lincoln, he- 
entered into the canvass with ardor and zeal that promised success. It was 
during this canvass that those peculiar characteristics of Lincoln, sociability, 
hilarity and ' companionship, were the more fully exhibited in public, and 
which made him so popular with the people. In those early days in Illinois 
it was customary for candidates for public favor to travel through their 
districts and address their fellow citizens in public, and also to call at the. 
homes and dwellings of their constituents. For this latter mode of canvass 
Lincoln was peculiarly gifted. Under all circumstances he made himself 
pleasant and agreeable with all persons, with the rich or poor, in the stately 
mansion or log cabin. With, or in the first, he was respectful, deferential and 
sociable; in the other he was affable, agreeable and simple. It was in the 
family circle, around the fireside, no matter how humble and lowly, that 
Lincoln felt at home.' He entered into a conversation with the father and 
mother relative to their hopes and prospects in life, the schools, farm, crops, 
stock. These, and other farm and family topics, were so pleasantly canvassed 
that they were made to feel that they had met a friend— one near as a brother. 
Soon the children would claim his attention, and on his knee or around his 
person they would be listening to his stories, while the mother would hear 
with pleasure that they were fine, beautiful children; that Willie was the 
image of his father, and Sarah, the most beautiful one, looked like her 
mother, and that she reminded him of a dear sister, a playmate of his youth- 
ful days. The distribution of some candy and nuts completed the picture. 
Those tender and simjjle interviews of Lincoln with the families he met, came 
from the natural impulses of his heart, to create kind feelings and thoughts 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.* 45 

in others, and receive corresponding pleasure in return. Lincoln's experience 
in his early life had taught him that in the family circle, around the hearth 
stone, were realized and enjoyed the hopes, the aspirations and pleasures of 
our better natures, and that where the friend, the neighbor, or even the 
stranger, enters therein and partakes of our cheer and hospitality, and enjoys 
and gives out of his own good nature, thoughts, sentiments and feelings, in 
unison with our own aspirations and hopes, we feel that we have indeed met 
a, friend. Herein was Lincoln's forte — his great success in securing the respect, 
confidence and support of his fellow citizens at the polls. His success in 
this direction was an enigma to his fellow candidates. They could not 
understand how he, homely and unpretending, could so universally secure the 
respect and esteem of the women and children. Frequently Lincoln and one 
of his opponents in the canvass would meet and spend the night at the same 
farm house. Both were greeted with the hospitality then so proverbial in the 
Western States. AVhile supper is preparing, instead of repairing to the 
house to discuss the politics of the day,'Lincoln proposes a walk over the 
farm. The stock is seen, the crops examined, and in all Lincoln takes a 
pleasure, which he communicates to his host. Supper being served, the men 
repair to the veranda, where the topics of the day are discussed. Soon they 
are joined by the mother and children. Now is Lincoln's opjiortunity. He 
calls one of the children to him and relates some of the incidents of his 
boyhood days; if a boy, how, with his dogs, he used to hunt the raccoons 
and wild cats, and set his traps for the wild turkeys ; if a girl, he relates how, 
■with his sister, he often went with her to gather in the woods, the wild berries 
and flowers ; and then, turning to the mother, he would relate the trials and 
hardships of a frontier life in Indiana, and speak of the love and affection of 
a dear, departed mother, and his fond recollections of her blessed memory. 
This adaptation of Lincoln's nature to obtain and secure the respect and 
esteem of all classes of men and women, was the secret of his popularity 
and success. It was not superficial or assumed, but it was the natural feel- 
ings and impulses of his heart. He loved the farm and the farmers, because 
on the farm he Avas raised. He loved the children because he was child-like 
in manner and feelings. He loved the mothers because he had in remem- 
brance the love and affection of a mother, and still retained the hallowed 
influences and fondness for a mother's tender instruction and regard. 

The canvass having closed, and the election having been held, Lincoln 
returned to his work of surveying. When the labors of the day were ended 
the study of his books was resumed. He was able now to procure the law- 
books he required, and, in the interval from labor, he applied himself closely 
and diligently to his law studies. When the period arrived for the meeting 



46 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

of the Legislature, Lincoln laid aside his compass and law books and walked 
one hundred miles to Vandalia, the capital of the State. 

Lincoln was now twenty-five years of age. He, and J. K. Dubois, member 
from the same county, were the two youngest members of the House. He was 
assigned by the Speaker to the Committee on Public Expenditures and 
Accounts, and occasionally, during the session, took part in the debates. He 
was noticed for his retiring modesty and demeanor; always ready, however, 
to assume responsibilities and labors when necessary ; but his services were 
never offered or pressed unless he was satisfied that they were desired or 
would be accepted. The State was new, and, although rapidly settling up, 
was as yet imperfectly developed, and the duties of the members were more 
of work than talk. Lincoln was always at the post of duty, prompt and faith- 
ful to advance the interests and wishes of his constituents and in the dis- 
charge of all his duties. When the session closed he walked home and 
resumed his surveying and study of law. 

At this period a sorrowful and affecting incident occurred in Lincoln's 
history. Some time previous to his first election to the Legislature, Lincoln 
had formed an affectionate and ardent attachment for a young lady. Miss 
Anna R., of New Salem, member of a family highly honored and respected. 
She was pleasing in her manners, address and appearance, accomplished and 
intelligent, home-like in her tastes and disposition, and would have made 
Lincoln a suitable, agreeable and pleasant companion for life. Their attach- 
ment was mutual. Their union was deferred for a time until Lincoln could 
provide a home suitable for the wife of his choice. His election to the 
Legislature, and future prospects, held out the hope that soon their fondest 
desires would be realized. The present, to them, was happiness — the future 
full of hope and promise. Soon after Lincoln's return from the Legislature 
Miss E.., his affianced, was taken seriously ill. Her disease soon took the 
form of quick consumption, and in a few days, after all that could be done by 
physicians, parents, lover, brother and friends, she quietly passed away, as a 
flower smitten by the untimely frost. To one of Lincoln's temperament, 
confiding, ardent and endearing, this severe and irreparable affiiction came 
with all the bitterness and hopelessness which follows the sudden destruction 
of our most cherished hopes and anticipations. Following this sad bereave- 
ment came those seasons of sorrow and depression of spirits which had been 
observed frequently since the death of his mother and sister, and which now 
seemed to be augmented, and which followed him several years of his life. 
In those sad and mournful manifestations of an overruling Providence, was 
exhibited a lovelv trait in Lincoln's character — his intense and devoted love. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ELECTION TO THE LEGISLATURE — EARLY ANTI-SLAVERY RECORD. 

In 1836 Lincoln was again nominated and elected to the Legislature. 
This canvass throughout the State was warmly contested by both parties, and 
resulted in the success of the Whig ticket in Lincoln's district, and in the 
election of a Legislature whose members have never been excelled for ability, 
and the prominence they afterwards attained on the pages of their State's 
history. The members from Sangamon county, two Senators and seven 
members of the Lower House, were so remarkable for their altitude, that they 
were called " the long nine" — no one of the members was less than six feet 
in height, and Lincoln was the tallest of the number, and before the close of 
session he became the tallest in influence and popularity. 

Of the members associated with Lincoln in this Legislature may be 
mentioned : James Semple, James Shields, Stephen A. Douglas, W. A. 
Richardson, afterwards United States Senators ; John A. McClanard, Robt. 
Smith, John Hogaii, J. J. Harden and John T. Stewart, since members of 
Congress; J. R. Dubois, Ninnian Edwards, Newton Cloud, John Moore, Wm. 
McMurtry, W. F. Linder, and others since distinguished in the history of their 
State. That Lincoln thus early in life and Legislative experience, and with 
the most talented and ablest men of his State, should have attained so prom- 
inent a position in the Legislature, shows a remarkable evidence of ability 
and popularity. 

The State 'during the two previous years had increased rapidly in popula- 
tion and prosperity. Many questions of legislation were ably debated and 
acted upon, one of which was the adoption of a general system of internal 
improvements for the State at large, and one was the removal of the capital 
of the State from Vandalia to Springfield. The friends of the first measure 
could not succeed without the aid and votes of the members from Sangamon 
county, and they refused to support the first measure unless the removal of 

the capital was made a part of the proposed measure. The labors and in- 

47 



48 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

fluence of Lincoln in effecting the removal of the capital by connecting it 
with the first measure, gave him much credit as a legislator, and for himself 
as well as for the other members from his county, it was considered by their 
constituents as a master stroke of policy, and added much to their reputation 
and popularity. This session of the Legislature was also noted as being the 
period when Stephen A. Douglas first made his entry into public life. He was 
a Democratic member from Morgan county, the youngest member of the 
House, twenty-three years of age, and at once took his stand as a leader of 
the Democratic party. Lincoln and Douglas here first met as the leading 
representatives of different political parties. Here, during this session, they 
commenced that political and intellectual discussion of policy and principle 
which outlined the road to political preferment and renown which each pro- 
posed to pursue, not anticipating the struggle in which they were to engage 
in after years, which was to lead one, after years of political labor and toil, 
to hopes and anticipations unrealized and prostrated, and the other to the 
realization of his loftiest desires and aspirations for fame and renown. 

At this period and proceeding, the larger portion of the immigration to 
Illinois, was from the border slave states. The question of the rights of the 
slave-holders, as they claimed them, had never up to this time been agitated 
or disputed. The prevailing sentiment of the people was in favor of slavery, 
or in favor of the claims of the slave-holders, as they held their legal and 
constitutional rights. The Democratic party was unanimously pro-slavery, 
and the anti-slavery sentiment among the Whigs was very weak and of no 
practical political force. The Abolitionists were despised by the Democrats 
and disowned by the Whigs. Both parties were strong in their professed 
regard for the constitution, and claimed before the public that the constitution 
protected the institution of African slavery in all its different phases as 
claimed by the slave-holders. 

At this period, however, the agitation of the question of slavery in the 
Eastern States by the Abolitionists, was beginning to excite interest and 
inquiry in the public . mind in the Western States, and as the avowed 
principles of the Abolition party were then so unpopular in the West, the 
Democrats, having a large majority in the Legislature, introduced in that 
body, resolutions of a strong pro-slavery character, for political effect, and for 
the purpose of afhxing the stigma of Abolitionism on all who would not 
endorse them. The principle embraced in the resolutions offered by the 
Democrats, was that Congress had no power under or by the constitution to 
regulate or interfere with the institution of slavery in the States, Territories 
or District of Columbia. No united effort was made against the adoption 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLIN. 49 

of the resolutions by the Whigs. Quite a number, however, looking to the 
partisan design in their introduction, voted. against their passage. Two mem- 
bers of the Whig party were willing to express, in a more formal manner, 
their opposition to the resolutions. Abraham Lincoln and Dan Stone, mem- 
bers from Sangamon county offered a protest against the resolutions, and 
had entered upon the journals of the House their reasons for refusing to vote 
for the passage of said resolutions. The protest was: "That while the Con- 
gress of the United States has no power, under the constitution, to interfere 
with the institution of slavery in the several States, and that while the pro- 
mulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate the evils 
thereof, still the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad 
policy, and that Congress has the power under the constitution to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia at any time ; but this power should be 
exercised only at the request of the people of the District." By this moderate 
protest we may have some idea of the resolutions that occasioned their utter- 
ance. That only two members of the Whig party signed this protest shows 
the low grade of the anti-slave sentiment in the State at that period. The 
protest made no reference to the power and authority of Congress to legislate 
on the subject in the Territories ; it was seen, however, at once, that the same 
power that could legislate on the subject for the District could also for the 
Territories. Here Lincoln took occasion, on the first opportunity in public 
life, to make his first anti-slavery record. Moderate and guarded as it was in 
sentiment, his views and opinion on this great and growing question were 
here fully expressed, and he never afterwards became more strong in his 
sentiments than the principles of this protest indicated and affirmed. 
Lincoln had formed his principles on this subject in unison with the .policy 
and action of the fathers of the republic. Their resolutions declaring that 
all the territory of the United States not embraced in the thirteen original 
states at that time should ever be free territory, was to him self evident that 
those resolutions intended to restrain the further extension of slavery and 
to confine it for all time to come within the limits it then occupied; and these 
principles being in full accord with his own sentiments, he thus early in his 
political life .gave utterance to those great truths which later came to be 
acknowledged by the American people as true and correct — that Congress had 
full power to regulate, restrain and prohibit slavery in all territory in and 
under the jurisdiction of the United States. This humane protest for truth 
and justice, presented and spread upon the journals of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of Illinois, in 1836, was the outline, the principle and the platform 
upon which he stood and fought the great battle with Douglas, for freedom in 
the territories, and which principles and sentiments in a later day called 
Lincoln to the highest office in the gift of the American people, and gathered 



50 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

at his call a million of freemen for the support and defence of the principles 
then and there enunciated. 

We may, to some extent, imagine, at this late day, the scene on that 
occasion. Lincoln arising in his place, his countenance indicating firmness 
and pleasantry, asking the House the privilege of having his protest spread 
upon the journal, Douglas, in his seat, with countenance indicating disdain 
and contempt for the principles contained in the protest, not apprehending or 
realizing that in after years the last grand struggle for place and power — the 
highest in the gift of the American people — was to be fought on this issue, the 
germ of which was now being planted and which was to grow, until under the 
leadership of the unsophisticated youth now before him, those eternal princi- 
ples of right and justice would prevail ; and that in this, his last grand struggle, 
his efforts, his hopes and aspirations for success, elevation and power would 
fail, vanish and disappear as the morning dew before the rising sun. 

The student of the political history of our government for the present 
century will find in Lincoln's protest a subject fruitful for thought and 
reflection. The Democratic party of his State, in their eagerness to promote 
the success of their political aspirations introduced their resolutions which 
were antagonistic to the ordinance of 1787, and subversive of the power and 
authority of the government of the United States. The long supremacj' of 
the slave power and the Democratic party had made them arrogant and pre- 
sumptious in the declarations of their principles and policy, and in the person 
of their champion, the " Little Giant," was the battle against freedom to be 
waged in favor of slavery. Lincoln, on this occasion, was quick to respond 
for freedom, and his protest against the Democratic resolutions and in favor 
of the power of Congress to legislate for freedom was a resuscitation of the 
principles and policy of the fathers of the republic, as exhibited in their 
ordinance of 1787, for the prohibition of slavery in the territories. This may 
be said to have been the commencement of the great work of Lincoln's life ; 
for, from this time forth, he was recognized as the champion of free soil and 
free labor, and marching onward with the people in the great national contest, 
he led them on to victory. The results of this have been commensurate with 
the interests involved, and the consequences have been the triumph of 
righteousness and justice, and the dawn, the fullness of a happy and 
reunited people. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LOCATION AT STATE CAPITAL — ADMITTANCE TO THE BAR. 

Lincoln had been admitted to the bar in 1836, and during this session of 
the Legislature, his friend, John J. Stuart, made a proposition to him to 
become his partner in the practice of law, which he accepted, and after the 
session closed, in April, 1837, he left New Salem and removed to Springfield, 
which ever after was his home. His law practice, to this time, had mainly 
been in Justice's Courts. He had also attended a few sessions of the higher 
courts held in his vicinity, and had gained a thorough knowledge of the 
practical forms and legal applications of processes of law. He is now about 
to enter upon a more extensive and laborious field of labor. The ties and 
associations of the past six years are, in a measure, to be sundered. Friends, 
faithful and true, who had shown and manifested a deep interest in his 
welfare and success, and whose aid and influence had done much to advance 
and forward him in his efforts for distinction and preferment, were to be left, 
but not forgotten. Subsequent visits to his old home proved the constancy of 
his friendship and affection. On his arrival at Springfield, he became a 
member in the family of William Butler, who was afterwards Treasurer of 
the State. The social and influential standing and surroundings of Mr. 
Butler's family were such that the influences, happily for Lincoln, were of 
the most lucrative and desirable character. Lincoln's labors and influence 
in the Legislature, in the transfer of the State capital to Springfield, from 
Vandalia, had given him a favorable introduction to the citizens, and his 
arrival was greeted with a warmth and welcome that was most gratifying to 
his aspirations and feelings. He was now about to enter into a professional 
vocation, to encounter in the race and struggle for place and eminence in his 
profession a number of master spirits, who have since made a bright record 
on the pages of their State's history. There was Douglas, Baker, Shields, 
Browning, Harden, Logan, Yates, Davis, Linden, Richardson, and others, 
who were now entered into the field as competitors in the race for professional 
preferment and political honors. 51 



52 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Soon after his removal to Springfield he was called to a special session of 
the Legislature, and his partner, Major Stuart, in the following September, 
was elected to Congress, and took his seat at the ensuing session, which 
necessarily closed their partnership. This connection had been one of 
advantage to Lincoln. It was an endorsement of his abilities, and gave him 
valuable assistance in his entry on his professional and political career. The 
citizens of Springfield, and county, having grateful recollections of his former 
services,- would not allow him to pursue his professional labors without inter- 
ruption. In 1838 his name was placed upon the legislative Whig ticket, and 
he was again elected. The membership of this Legislature was nearly 
equally divided between the two parties, the Democracy having a small 
majority. The sacred right of petition had been, by a Democratic Congress, 
denied and voted down. The industries and trade of the country had been 
prostrated by the crash and failure of the State bank system, and the people 
held, in a measure, the Democratic party responsible. These causes, and 
the rapid settlement of the northern portion of the State by emigrants from 
New England and the Middle States, had wrought a great change in the 
strength of the political parties in the State. Lincoln, at this time, and at 
this session, was regarded and recognized as the leading member of the Whig 
party, and was nominated as their candidate for Speaker of the House, and 
was defeated by one vote. He took a prominent part in all the discussions 
and debates of a national importance. Many of the debates were ■ of a 
political character, designed to haye their influence and eftect on the next 
Presidential election, and particularly on the politics of the State. Reference 
has been made in the preceding chapter to Lincoln's peculiarities, relative to 
his surprising faculty and original ingenuity of telling anecdotes, always 
applicable and illustrating the event or subject then under consideration. It 
would seem that he had a story for every subject. Some event had occurred 
previously that would illustrate any matter he had under consideration, and 
it was really wonderful, that for every event in his life and history some law of 
association suggested some story which seemed to clothe itself in a form 
applicable to the event and occasion. Those who have heard him relate 
those humorous sayings have enjoyed them as being the most amusing and 
wittiest of their kind. The elements of wit and humor always pleased him, 
and whenever he found anything ludicrous, humorous or witty, he could not 
resist the inclination to use it, whatever the incident might be with which it 
was associated. Anything that was morally beautiful touched him deeply, 
and he was as equally sensitive to all that was grand, heroic and ludicrous in 
life. His stories and anecdotes were varied by the associations that called 
them forth ; sometimes with a moral point, or elucidating some great truth or 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 

proposition, and at other times with a point, humorous and ludicrous. An 
incident of the latter class [occurred during the session of this Legislature. 
A member from AVabash county found something unconstitutional in almost 
every measare proposed and brought forward for discussion and adoption. 
He was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and after giving his objections 
to the measure, would generally move its reference to said committee. He 
finally became such a nuisance in that way that the members resolved that 
some method must be devised to silence him and abate the evil, and Lincoln 
was resorted to in order to effect this desirable object. An opportunity soon 
offered. A measure was introduced in which Lincoln's constituents were 
directly interested, when the member from Wabash arose and urged all his 
eloquence against its unconstitutional points, as he held them. Lincoln then 
arose, his grey eyes sparkling Jwith mirth, and his features indicating some- 
thing racy and humorous. Hefsaid: "Mr. Speaker — The attack of the 
member from Wabash on the constitutionality of the measure before the 
House reminds me of an incident that occurred with an old friend of mine 
down in Coles county. He was a peculiar old fellow, with heavy eyebrows, 
and a pair of spectacles always under them." A personal description was 
here at once recognized. " One morning, just after the old man got up, he 
imagined, on opening the door, that he saw a rather lively squirrel on a tree 
near his house, so he took down his rifle and fired at the squirrel, but the 
squirrel paid no attention to the shot. He loaded and fired again and again, 
until the thirteenth shot.^^He sat down his rifle impatiently and said to his 
boy, who was looking on, ' Dick, there is something wrong with this rifle.* 
' The rifle is all right, I know it is; but where is your squirrel?' said Dick. 
'Don't you see him humped up abmit half way up that tree?' asked the old 
man, peering over his spectacles, getting quite mystified. ' No, I don't see 
him,' said Dick, and then turning and looking in his father's face he ex- 
claimed, 'Oh, pshaw!. I see your squirrel now; you have been firing all this 
time at a louse on your eyebrow.' " 

Lincoln resumed his seat without further remarks. The member from 
Wabash had been watching Lincoln with eager interest as his story pro- 
ceeded, and at the close his eyes fell and his countenance indicated a fatal 
shot. The members were convulsed witli merriment and laugliter and the 
House was not further troubled with constitutional objections by the member 
from Wabash. Lincoln probably wrote this anecdote from an incident which 
the readers of Burns will recollect. 

After the adjournment of the legislature, Lincoln returned to Springfield, 
intending to devote his time exclusively to the duties of his profession. The 
State was divided into' judicial districts, comprising several counties in each, 
and holding court in the different counties, was called by the judge and 



54 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

lawyers "riding the circuit." Some twelve weeks would be required to 
complete a circuit, which was repeated twice a year. It was at the capital of 
the State and on the circuits that Lincoln soon made a reputation that placed 
him among the most eminent lawyers of the State. His success may be 
mainly attributed to the following principles and method of business which 
he invariably pursued and practiced. If he was consulted in a case he carefully 
examined the main grounds for action ; if he considered they were sufficient 
he at once took the case and prosecuted it with diligence to the end ; if he 
thought his client had not a good case he always advised the applicant not to 
prosecute, telling him frankly that his case was not a good one, and that he 
was not willing to take the case, as he did not think he could succeed. When- 
ever he was employed, he made himself acquainted with all the points both 
for and against his client. Especially would he fully examine every point 
that could be made against his case by his opponent. He so fully made him- 
self master of his case that his reputation for success soon became so general 
that the people soon regarded him as having no superior. In the first years 
of his professional life he was not regarded as deeply versed in the funda- 
mental principles of law by his professional friends, still by them he was 
regarded as a remarkable advocate. All admitted that before a jury he had 
no superior. In presenting a case to a jury he always fairly presented both 
sides. The great struggle of his powers as an advocate was perfect clearness 
of statement, a fair open exhibition of both sides of the case and the power 
and skill to fasten on the common mind his chain of argument and logic, and 
conduct the same to the result of his own conclusions. He liad the faculty of 
bringing every juror to feel that his statement of the case was an absolute aid 
to him in forming a correct and impartial verdict. 

The fundamental principles of Lincoln's profession had required years of 
study and deep thought before he became well versed in the intricacies of the 
law ; but the success he early attained was by his thorough knowledge and 
familiarity with his fellows— grown up with the people, and being one of the 
people in the common walks of life, he was qualified and could generally form 
a correct analysis of the capacity and thoughts of the men who composed the 
jury before whom his case was to be tried, and his arguments were addressed 
to them more in the cause of right and justice than of law, and his eflforts 
were not so much to impress on the jury his own convictions as to lead them 
by his illustrations and deductions to the same conclusions that his argument 
indicated. 

This " riding of the circuit," brought Lincoln in contact with the 
people that assembled at the county seats on these occasions, and his good 
nature, his pleasant, odd ways, and his amusing anecdotes and stories always 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 

gathered around him a crowd of admirers. Those pleasant exhibitions of 
Lincoln's good feelings and familiarity with the people made him dis- 
tinguished, popular and loved by all. A pleasing trait in his character was 
his regard and kind recollections of the old friends and companions of his 
earlier days. Frequently he would leave the village hotel after the day's 
labor in the courtroom and spend the evenings with them, and where it was 
possible, would stop with them during the court term. Nor did he in pros- 
perity forget his relations who were poor and in humble circumstances in 
life. Whenever he could, he visited them, and when in their presence or at 
their homes no e"\ddence of his elevation and his superiority in his condition 
of life was ever assumed or made perceptible. 

A pleasing incident, in harmony with Lincoln's character, occurred on one 
of those trips on his circuit from Bloomington to Springfield, giving a pleasing 
and delightful insight into his kindness of heart. He called to stay over 
night with the writer, as was usual on this route. It was observed as he 
alighted from his buggy on his arrival, that his pantaloons were much soiled, 
and the remark was made: "Lincoln," (the usual address in those days) 
"you have found some mud on your travels to-day? " His reply was, " I 
will tell you about that after supper." Seated on the porch after supper, 
Lincoln says : " Charles, you recollect the slough this side of Funck's Grove, 
with the deep holes ? In passing there this afternoon I saw in the distance a 
flock of sheep, and on the banks of one of the water-holes was a sheep, a 
mother, in deep distress. On riding up and looking down in the hole I saw 
a little lamb in the mire. As there was more mud than water, I saw at once 
that it could not get out itself. I felt a strong desire to liberate the little 
fellow, but I was in a quandary. I had bought this new suit of clothes at Bloom- 
ington, and I looked at the lamb and then at my new suit of clothes. I saw 
with pain the fruitless attempts of the lamb to get out, and the frantic appeals 
of the mother for the relief of her offspring. I thought I could not spoil my 
clothes in going down in the hole, and finally I concluded to go on and leave 
the little fellow to his fate. After going on some distance I felt so bad that I 
turned about and resolved to go back and get the sufferer out ; so I Avent back 
and hitched ray horse to the fence and took some rails off the fence and fixed 
them so I got down in the bottom of the hole and got the little fellow out safely. 
The mother seemed as well pleased as the lamb, and they ran off together, 
and looking back seeming to say, we are much obliged to you. After riding 
some time, with feelings much relieved, the thought occurred to me, wliat was 
the motive that induced me to return — was it to relieve the sufferer Qr to 
relieve my own feelings? What do you think of it, Charles?" I replied, 
"The question will admit of thought, but in this case, as I presume in all 
similar cases, whatever the motive, the object was and will be obtained — the 
relief of the mind as well as the sufferer." 



CHAPTER IX. 

MARRIAGE, AND ELECTION TO CONGRESS. 

Soon after the election of John T. Stuart to Congress, in 1840, Lincoln's 
partnership with him in their law business was dissolved, and he entered into 
business associations with Stephen J. Logan, one of the most eminent and 
learned lawyers in the State. He entered into this new relation intending to 
devote his time exclusively to the duties of his profession, but the citizens of 
his county again demanded his services in the councils of the State. 

He was again nominated for the Legislature in 1840, and elected by a 
large majority. 

His name had been placed on the Whig ticket as one of the Presidential 
electors in 1836, and again he was called to head the electorial ticket in 1840. 
He took an active part in that exciting canvass, and his addresses for the 
hero of Tippecanoe at the great Log Cabin and Hard Cider Convention at 
Springfield, and others held in the State, are still remembered b,y those who 
heard them. As the Democratic majority was so large in the State that it 
could not entirely be overcome, he had the jileasure of rejoicing in the success 
of his candidate and the party to which he was warmly devoted. 

At the meeting of the Legislature he was again nominated by the Whig 
members for Speaker of the House, and received more than the strength of 
his party, but the Democratic party being still largely in the majority, he was 
defeated. This session closed Lincoln's connection with the Legislature, as a 
member. He was afterwards frequently solicited b}' the people to represent 
them again, but he could not, as his professional business required his whole 
time and attention. 

During this year, 1841, an incident occurred in Lincoln's history, one which 
was at variance with his life, and certainly not in unison with his principles 
and feelings. A sarcastic poetical pliillipic appeared in the Sangamore Journal , 
published in Springfield, edited by Simon Francis, under the signature of 
"Aunt Becky." The poem was intended as a caricature, and made such 
allusions to James Shields, a young lawyer of Springfield, and since United 
50 



OF AHKAHAM LINCOLN. 57 

States Senator, that there could be no mistake in its application. Nature had 
been favorable to Shields in granting to him, at his youthful age, self-esteem, 
ostentation and a self-estimation of power and influence over the fair sex, 
which said, in deeds as well as in words, that he could lead the hearts of the 
ladies captive at his will. This arrogant presumption, "Aunt Becky," treated 
not lightly. The poem in Springfield, where Shields was so well known, was 
a subject of much mirth and (comment, and certainly held the person alluded 
to, in much ridicule and unpleasant gossip. There was not anything in the 
publication reflecting upon or derogatory to Shields' character, still, to one of 
high chivalric pretentions and self-importance and pride of self and person, it 
deeply wounded sensitive feelings. 

Shields was haughty and impulsive, and, instead of treating the affair with 
silence and contempt, he at once proceeded to the office of the editor and 
demanded the author's name. Francis, who in proportions reminded one of 
" Falstaff," and he possessed in an eminent degree the combative principles 
of that noted personage, requested time to consult with the writer, and one 
day was given. Francis was now in a dilemma ; the matter seemed to him to 
be assuming a serious phase ; he could not for a moment think of assuming 
the responsibility, and to give the lady's name would be unpleasant. He 
thought of Lincoln and called on him for counsel. 

" Oh," said Lincoln, " if Shields calls again for the writer's name tell him 
that I assume the responsibility." The writer of the poem was one of his 
intimate friends, and probably at this time a more tender relation existed, 
and without doubt Lincoln had seen the offensive article before it was pub- 
lished. He hardly expected that Shields, on so frivolous a matter, would press 
it to a duel. He had i-eason to believe that he would possibly receive a chal- 
lenge, and he also intended to accept the same, if presented. 

On the following day Shields called on Francis and was informed that A. 
Lincoln held himself responsible for the publication of the poem. The result 
■was that Lincoln at once received a challenge from Shields, through his friend 
Col. R., and was at once referred to Lincoln's friend, Col. B. It may be stated 
that there were outside influences that had a bearing in this matter. Shields 
was a prominent member of the Democratic partj\ Lincoln was a rapidly 
rising leader in the Whig party. An exciting canvass had just closed in which 
Lincoln was successful, and the article being published in a Whig i)aper, and 
Shields believing that Lincoln was acquainted with the contents of the article 
before its publication, his sensitive feeling could only be healed by resort to 
the code of honor, as held by men of like character. The rules of the code 
gave Lincoln choice of weapons , and he selected broadswords for the encounter, 
and he proceeded to take lessons in the art of self-defence, under the instruc- 
tions of E. H, M., a teacher in that branch of the military art.' 



58 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The place of meeting selected was on an island in the Mississippi river 
opposite Alton, neutral ground between Illinois and Missouri. The meeting 
took place according to arrangement, the principals being accompanied by 
their seconds — Lincoln by Col. B. and Shields by Col. R. and Surgeon, Dr. E. 
H. M. Other parties, friends of the principals, made their appearance on the 
ground, determined that on no such frivolous grounds should a duel take place ; 
the challenge had been sent without any conditions — no opportunity given 
whereby Lincoln could explain or give satisfaction to Shields' wounded honor. 
Lincoln now stated that if the challenge was withdrawn for the time being he 
would make his statement or explanations to their mutual friends, but that he 
could not and would not until the challenge was withdrawn. To this Shields' 
friends could not well object, and the challenge was withdrawn, and then 
Lincoln made his explanations as to the objects designed in the offensive 
publication, to the friends of both parties, which were considered satisfactory 
and honorable to both, and thus the difficulty was amicably adjusted. An 
incident occurred at the place of meeting which showed Lincoln's peculiarity 
and how little of dignity and decorum he exhibited on the occasion. While 
the friends of the parties were visibly engaged in arranging the preliminaries 
of the duel and endeavoring to bring it to a peaceful solution. Shields was 
standing with arms folded, a countenance stern, firm and majestic, awaiting 
the result of the deliberations, while Lincoln, with his broadsword, was 
engaged in cutting down the weeds and grass that obstructed a free move- 
ment of person about the ground selected for the encounter. The contrast 
in the bearing and demeanor of the principals caused a smile on the coun- 
tenances of the friends of the parties which, taken with the surroundings, 
indicated a scene of the ludicrous and comical. The affair being amicably 
arranged the parties witli their friends returned to Springfield. This incident, 
which has been frequently mentioned and alluded to by the press in all 
sections of the Union, was regarded in the community in which Lincoln lived 
as a silly, foolish affair, excusable on his part as he had championed the cause 
of a lady, and therefore, in the excitements of Lincoln's political life it was so 
regarded. That Lincoln held in his heart no antipathy against Shields was 
in later years made evident when Shields was appointed by Lincoln to a high 
command in the armies of the Republic. 

At this period, 1842, Lincoln and E. D. Baker, of Springfield, and J. J. 
Hardin, of Jacksonville, were candidates before the Whig Convention for 
nomination for Congress. Referring to this Convention, Lincoln wrote to a 
friend : " We had a meeting of the Whigs of the county here on Monday last 
to appoint delegates to a District Convention, and Baker beat me and got 
the delegation instructed to go for him. The meeting, in spite of my attempts 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 

to decline it, appointed me one of the delegates, so that in getting Baker the 
nomination I shall be fixed a good deal like a fellow who is made groomsman 
to the man who has 'cut him out' and is marrying his own dear gal." 
Hardin was nominated by the convention, and elected. 

On the second day of November, 1842, Lincoln married Miss Mary Todd, 
daughter of Hon. Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky. Miss Todd had 
visited several years in Springfield, Illinois, previous to her marriage, with 
iier married sisters, Mrs. N. W. Edwards and Mrs. Dr. Wallace. She was a 
lady of a pleasant and affectionate disposition, fond of gaiety and the social 
amusements of the day — tastes and temperments in many respects different 
from Lincoln. The union, however, proved to be a pleasant and happy one. 
Home to Lincoln had many pleasant and sacred memories. It was to him a 
home of rest and domestic happiness where he laid aside the labors and duties 
of his profession, and in the bosom of his family, and with his children, spent 
his happiest hours. Lincoln, now for two years, was actively engaged in his 
professional duties and in the enjoyment of his new domestic life, the time 
thus passed away until the great political contest of 1844. 

Lincoln, early in life, read the biography and speeches of Henry Clay, 
and espoused with all the ardor of his youthful enthusiasm the principles 
advocated by that eminent statesman in the councils of the nation ; and he 
labored with his accustomed energy and zeal for the success of Mr. Clay's 
political aspirations. His name was placed at the head of the Presidential 
ticket as an elector. He entered into the canvass with his accustomed energy 
and canvassed the entire state, and visited Indiana and delivered there 
several addresses in favor of his chieftain. The result of this strongly con- 
tested canvass was a sad disappointment to Lincoln. While it had rendered 
his great hero a hopeless man politically, the canvass had given Lincoln a 
prominence much higher than he had heretofore attained. His canvass had 
given credit and strength to the Whig party and made him a reputation as one 
of the most effective and powerful political speakers in the country. His 
speeches on and in favor of the protective system of duties which was a promi- 
nent issue in the campaign, were clear and powerful, and their subsequent 
adoption as the national policy proved the correctness of his view^s in those 
addresses, which are still remembered for the clearness of their arguments 
and soundness of their logic. In the result of this election Lincoln was not 
only disappointed but disgusted. In contrasting the political principles and 
great superior abilities of Clay over his successful competitor, he had his 
misgivings as to the capacity of the people for self government. The result 
seemed to him, reasoning from his political standpoint, that the people had 
made a serious mistake in the choice of their rulers, and their decision was 



60 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

antagonistic to true political principles, and to the correct and true policy 
which should direct and control the national government; and, in the heat of 
his disappointment, he declared to his friends that he would, for the future, 
discard politics and attend to his own business, and devote his time to the 
duties of his profession. But his ambition and friends did not allow him long 
to be influenced by this formal declaration. In 1846 the friends of Mr. Clay 
requested him to deliver an address at Lexington, Kentucky, in favor of 
gradual emancipation. The sentiment and views of Lincoln were in unison 
with those of Mr. Clay in reference to slavery in the several states. Both 
held that it was a question of local legislation, and that the evil should' be 
abated by gradual emancipation and colonization. Lincoln had never seen 
the eminent statesman, and was desirous to hear his address on that occasion. 
He accordingly arranged his business and left Springfield and arrived at Lexing- 
ton in time to attend the meeting. After the address was delivered, Lincoln 
was introduced to Mr. Clay, who invited him to visit Ashland. This gave 
much pleasure to Lincoln ; he had heard him on the rostrum, and from the 
private visit and interview he anticipated much gratification. He found Mr. 
Clay at home very hospitable, polished in his manners and bearing, but 
evincing a superiority and pre-eminence that could not be misunderstood. 
He was evidently kind and affable, but it was in that patronizing, liberal 
way which creates unpleasant feelings in a sensitive mind. On his returning 
home it was at once apparent to Lincoln's friends that he had been somewhat 
disappointed in his expectations of Mr. Clay. The address delivered was 
written, and was wanting the pathos and eloquence that Lincoln expected. 
It was soon observed that his visit to Ashland had modified in a degree his 
enthusiastic admiration of the " mill boy of the slashes," and that Mr. Clay, 
as a man, possessed the fallibility and weakness common to all men. 

In 1846 Lincoln was nominated by the Whig party for Congress, in the 
Sangamon district. Having received the nomination he laid aside his law 
books and devoted the intervening period before the election to a complete 
and exhaustive canvass of his district. His opponent, on the Democratic 
ticket, was the Rev. Peter Cartwright, an old pioneer and leading Minister 
and Elder in the Methodist Church . The popularity of Lincoln was unbounded ; 
his majority was fifteen hundred and eleven, the largest ever received before 
by any Whig candidate in that district. This remarkable majority was larger 
than that of General Taylor in 1848, when a much larger vote was polled, and 
was another evidence of Lincoln's popularity, and of the trust and confidence 
reposed in him by the people. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, 

On the 6th of December, 1847, Lincoln took his seat in the Thirtieth 
Congress. His experience derived from four sessions in the Legislature of his 
state prepared him well for his congressional duties. He had made himself 
fully acquainted with national policy and legislation. To the former, in his 
enthusiastic canvass for Mr. Clay, he had devoted his most laborious efforts, 
and understood well the great questions which at that period divided the 
parties and people. He being the only Whig member from Illinois gave him 
influence and prominence in the House of Kepresentatives. It was at this 
session that Stephen A. Douglas . first took his seat in the United States 
Senate. Lincoln and Douglas had first met as representatives of their respec- 
tive parties in the Illinois Legislature. Douglas, having with him the support 
of the large Democratic majority, had the more rapidly advanced in the political 
race ; it seemed somewhat remarkable that the two leading men of their 
respective parties in their state should be brought together and kept so closely 
in contact until events still in embroyo should bring them out before their own 
state and country as champions of antagonistic principles and politics which 
were momentous in their issues and grand in their results, and which, even at 
that time, had began to agitate and divide the American people. 

On the meeting of Congress, the President of the United States, James K. 

I'olk, was anxious to justify the war which he had declared against Mexico, 

and place in a favorable light his action before the American people. In 

his message to Congress of December 7, 1847, he said that, "The Mexican 

(Tovernment had, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts to, involved the two 

countries in war by invading the territory of Texas, and shedding the blood 

of our citizens on our soil." Lincoln took issue with this statement of the 

President, by a set of resolutions he introduced in the House, which were 

called "the spot resolutions," taking tlie ground, that the first blood that 

was shed was on the Rio Grande; if not on Mexican territory, at least it was 

on disputed territorv — territorv over wiiich the Texan Government had never, 
()1 



62 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

previous to annexation, exercised any jurisdiction. The resolutions were 
introduced on the 22d of December. The}' found no favor or advocates with 
the Democratic party, and being laid over under the rules, they were not 
afterwards called up ; but they formed the basis of a speech delivered by 
Lincoln on the 12th of January in which all the points in the resolution were 
fully discussed and treated. The resolutions called upon the President, by a 
series of satirical, and yet serious questions, to indicate or fix the spot where 
the first blood was spilled. The speech was fully characteristic of the speaker, 
simple, direct and clear as to the question at, issue, and was considered the 
most effective against the administration on the subject delivered during the 
session. Texas having been annexed to the United States, and in the interest 
of the slave states, and the war undertaken in the same interest, and for the 
acquisition of territory for the extension of slavery, it is worthy of remark 
here, that on all questions arising out of this war the Southern members of 
the Whig party acted and voted with the Whigs of the free States. Kober^ 
Toombs, A. H. Stephens, Thomas B. King, and others, made their record as 
against the war. 

On the first of June the National Whig Convention met at Philadelphia 
to nominate a candidate for the Presidency. Lincoln was one of the members 
of that Convention, representing Illinois. The Convention being governed in 
the selection of a candidate, not so much for ability as availability, selected 
General Taylor. The war had made General Taylor a hero; his victories, 
and the simplicity and modesty of his dispatches had created an enthusiasm 
for him in the rank and file of both parties. Taylor and Cass having been 
nominated for the Presidency, the session of Congress was continued until 
August. After the nominations were made, much of the time of the members 
was occupied in making campaign speeches. On the 20th of July Lincoln 
■obtained the floor and delivered a speech reviewing the points at issue between 
the two parties. This speech, viewed in the light of a campaign address, was 
sharp, telling and unsparing, and in revealing the weak points in one candi- 
date and marking the strong points in the other, it could not be excelled- 
The friends of General Cass were endeavoring to give him a military reputa- 
tion, as he had been near Hull's surrender in 1812. On this occasion, 
Lincoln's remarks relative to General Cass' claims for military honors were 
intended to be humorous and sarcastic. " By the way, Mr. Speaker," said 
Lincoln, " do you know that I am a military hero? Yes, sir; in the daj's of 
the Black Hawk war I fought, bled and come away. Speaking of General 
Cass's career reminds me of my own. I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I 
was about as near it as Cass was to Hull's surrender, and, like him, I saw the 
place afterwards. It is quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none 
to break, but I bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If General 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63 

Cass went in advance of me in picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him 
in charges on wild onions. If he saw any live, fighting Indians it was more 
than I did, but I had a good many bloody struggles with mosquitoes; and, 
although I never fainted from the loss of blood, I can say truly that I was 
often hungry, and I hope, if I ever should turn Democrat and be taken up by 
that party as a candidate for the Presidency, they will not make fun of me by 
trying to make me a militarj- hero." 

The first session of the Thirtieth Congress came to a close in August, 
and the members returned to their homes to prosecute and complete the cam. 
paign which had been commenced at Washington. Lincoln had discharged 
his duties conscientiously and faithfully. He found, however, on his return 
home, that his action on tlie questions connected with the Mexican war had 
not generall)' pleased his constituents. The anti-war sentiment was not as 
strong in the AVest as in the East, and the people had, in a measure, endorsed 
the sentiment uttered before his regiment by Colonel Baker, previous to taking 
up. their march for Mexico, "My country, right or wrong." The war was 
popular in the West, as the enthusiasm for General Taylor fully demonstrated. 
Lincoln, although opposed to the war, believing it to be unnecessary and 
unconstitutional, voted for all the men and supplies that were required. 
After the close of the session of Congress he visited New England and 
delivered a number of campaign speeches, and then returned home and 
entered with ardor into the canvass for General Taylor, and continued until 
the day of the election, and then rejoiced for the success of his candidate and 
the national triumph of the party for whose prosperity and success he had so 
long and faithfully labored. 

In this political canvass the Whigs were charged by their opponents witli 
inconsistency. They had selected as their standard bearer a man whose 
reputation had been made by the successful prosecution of a war which they 
had opposed. General Taylor had been nominated because he was a military 
hero, not for any natural or acquired fitness for the Presidency. The war had 
provided an instrument whereby the Whigs might acquire power and success, 
and they were not slow to seize it. 

Lincoln, writing from Washington to a friend, a prominent political 
member of the Whig party, said in his letter: "In law, it is good policy 
never to plead what you need not, lest you oblige yourself to prove what you 
cannot. The application I mean to make of this rule is, that you should go 
for General Taylor, because you can take some Democrats and lose no Whigs ; 
but if you go for some other one because he was in favor of the war and tbe 
mode of prosecuting it, you will still take some Democrats, but you lose more 
Whigs, so that, in the sum of the operation, you will be the loser. This is 



64 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

my opinion, and, if you look around, I doubt if you do not discover such to 
be the fact among your own neighbors." 

Soon after the close of the canvass Lincoln left his home to take his seat 
in the second session of this Congress, which was comparatively a quiet one- 
The war with Mexico had been brought to a close by the treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo. The Whigs had elected General Taylor, and the national pulse 
had resumed its wonted tenor. Lincoln, during this session, left on record 
more fully his anti-slavery sentiments. He voted, as he often said, forty 
times for the Wilmot proviso. He stood firmly on the right of petition to 
Congress, and did as much in opposition to the extension of slavery as oppor- 
tunity offered, and as his conceived notions of constitutional obligations would 
allow him to do. Early in the session, Gott, a member from New York, intro- 
duced a resolution instructing the Committee on th,e District of Columbia to 
report a bill prohibiting the slave trade in the District-. This resolution 
appearing to take measures impolitic and that could not succeed in the House, 
Lincoln voted against its adoption. He, however, on the sixteenth day of 
January, introduced a substitute for this resolution. It provided that nO' 
person not within the district, and no person thereafter born within the dis- 
trict, should be held to slaverv within the district at the will of their master 
who could claim their full value at the hands of the government, and that the 
act itself should be subject to approval of the voters of the district. The 
above are the prominent features of the bill. It failed to pass, owing to oppo- 
sition from members of the slave states. There have been those who have 
believed and held tliat Lincoln did not regard slaves as property under the 
constitution, and have quoted his statements made during his contest with 
Douglas, in which he denied the statement made by the Supreme Court in 
the Dred Scott decision, that " the right of property in slaves is distinctly and 
expressly in the constitution." Pie held that there was a great difference- 
between a distinct and express affirmation and a tacit recognition of property of 
slaves as the constitution implied. His anti-slavery sentiments, as expressed,, 
and record as implied in the bill he introduced in Congress, with his treatment 
of the slave question during the rebellion, establishes the fact beyond contro- 
versy that he regarded slaves as property under the constitution. His 
sentiments and feelings were that slavery was morally and unjustly wrong, 
and his humanity and regard for that which was morally right and just in 
tliat direction, was held and moved l)y his obligations to tlic constitution and 
laws as he understood them. 

The fourth of March closed Lincoln's congressional term and labors. His 
victories hereafter were to V)e achieved in a different and larger field. After 
the close of his congressional term, his friends endeavored to secure his 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 65 

appointment as Commissioner of the General Land Office, but the eflfort 
failed. On retiirnin.i^ to his home in Sprinjjjfiekl, he found that liis professional 
business had suflfered materially during his congressional term. He at once 
entered with energy upon the duties of his profession, and prosecuted them 
successfully until 1854, giving less attention to state and national politics 
than he had during any period of his previous political life. He was called 
to stand in 1852 as an ele(;tor on the Scott electorial ticket. He made but 
few speeches during this canvass. He thought the selection of the Whig 
standard bearer not a fortunate one, and not having confidence in its success, 
he did not allow the contest to draw him away from his professional duties. 
He had made his record in Congress on the slavery question, voting for the 
Wilmot proviso on every occasion, and had introduced a bill for the payment 
to those owners of slaves liberated in the District of Columbia. The sentiment 
of the people of the West at that time was not fully up to the standard indi- 
cated by Lincoln's record on the slavery question, but each succeeding wave 
of public opinion indicated an increasing sentiment in that direction. Lincoln, 
during those years of which he was engaged in his professional business, 
was a close observer of and not indifferent to the national events then in 
progress. 

On the 9th of September, 1850, California was admitted into the Union. 
The State was formed from territory wrested from Mexico, by which the 
South expected to extend the area of their peculiac institution, the leaders in 
the South realizing the fact that their political power was surely departing 
from them, and they were earger and zealous in their efforts and expedients 
to retain it. To satisfy the South, concessions were exacted from the free 
states called the compromise measures of 1850. This concession to the 
slave powers was not even satisfactory to the South. The political leaders 
of that section were not content with the mutual agreement, and could not see 
in them the security they desired, and the free states saw that the intention 
and results of the compromise measures would be to force slavery into the free 
territories, and they could only see in them abasement and humiliation. The 
people, however, desired quiet and peace. Tiiey had become weary of the 
endless agitation, and accepted the action of the two national conventions, 
which, in 1852, adopted these measures, as they trusted they would be a 
final settlement of the differences between the two sections of the Union. 
These concessions to the slave power and interest, were not satisfactory to 
Lincoln, and he had no confidence that they would secure the desired 
results. His study of national politics and his knowledge of the leading men 
and measures, had satisfied him that the last slave state liad been admitted 
into the Union, and that the time was not remote when the principles of free 



66 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

soil and free labor were to become the great leading political issues and 
questions that would divide the national parties, and that in this contest of 
the people for principle, right, justice and freedom, would prevail. 

The period intervening between 1850 and 1854, was a season of professional 
prosperity and of domestic happiness to Lincoln. With an affectionate and 
agreeable companion, their home had been blessed with children, and they 
were to him a source of pleasure and enjoyment rarely if ever excelled, and 
when from the labors and anxieties of his professional and political duties he 
returned to the family circle he found rest and happiness which was pure and 
unalloyed. 

Lincoln had four children, all sons, Robert, Edward, (who died in 
infancy), William, who died in Washington during the President's adminis- 
tration, and Thomas, since deceased. Robert, the eldest, now the only 
survivor, is a prominent law^yer of Chicago, and is at present a member of 
President Arthur's Cabinet, holding the honorable position of Secretary of War. 
The home endearments and enjoyments of Lincoln's boyhood days were 
renewed in his own family circle, and the honored and filial relations of 
husband and wife, parents and children, were happily blended in love and 
affection. Lincoln's home feelings were notably expressed by him on his 
receipt of a telegram announcing his nomination for President by the Chicago 
convention. He looked at it silently, while his friends around him shouted 
in triumph. He said in his own peculiar way, "There is a little woman 
down at our house who would like to hear this ; I'll go down and tell her." 
He was anxious to be the first to communicate the happy tidings. 



CHAPTER XI. 

KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL SENATORIAL ELECTION. 

The historical events of 1854, were remarkable in their inception and in 
their extraordinary results upon the final settlement of the slavery question. 
Notwithstanding the passage of the compromise measures, the discussion of 
the slavery question in Congress was began and continued. This inflamed 
and excited the public mind, and which was destined to continue until the 
institution was destroyed. The pledges of peace and harmony which had 
been given, seem to have been disregarded and unheeded. The abrogation 
of the Missouri compromise of 1820 was affected, and a bill organizing the 
territories of Kansas and Nebraska was enacted, which left them free to 
choose whether they would have slavery as an institution or not. The 
admission of California had given preponderance to the free states. To regain 
that power, and force slavery upon those territories was evidently the design 
and object of the slave interest in the enactment of the bill. 

Judge Douglas was the author of what was termed the Kansas-Nebraska 

Bill — a bill which he based upon what he was pleased to call popular 

sovereignty. This, opening up to the admission of slavery, territory which 

by the compromise of 1820 was set apart for free territory, aroused the 

popular feeling to a degree which had never before been exhibited. Men 

who in good faith had acquiesced in the compromise measures, felt that they 

had been overreached and foully wronged. This movement in the slave 

interest aroused Lincoln to the reality, as he then believed, that there was to 

be no final settlement until either freedom or slavery should triumph. He 

regarded the institution as the fathers of the republic regarded it. As 

Washington did, when, as President of the United States, lie approved and 

signed an Act of Congress, enforcing the proliibition of slavery in the 

Nortliwestern territory, and a year later wlien he wrote to Lafayette, saying 

" That he considered the prohibition a wise measure, and expressing the hope 

that we .should some time have a union of free states." This new doctrine 

that slavery was riglit and was entitled to the same consideration as freedom, 

07 



68 UFE AND PUBLIC SERVICKS 

and that it was claiming national recognition and protection everywliere, 
awakened and aroused Lincoln's indignation and resistence, and this soon 
became the popular sentiment and feeling in all the free states. Senator 
Douglas had seen the approach of the political commotion in the distance, 
and in his desire to satisfy his friends in the North and propitiate the South, 
he brought forward his Kansas-Nebraska Bill, hoping to outride the storm 
under the delusion, as it proved to be, of popular sovereignty. Senator 
Douglas was fairly entitled to the credit of being an acute politician, but here 
he soon found that he had made a great mistake, even with the members of 
his own party. It was to be the conflict of the age, and on its issue between 
Lincoln and Douglas, was to be fought the battle of giants, not for popular 
sovereignty, but for and against freedom. AVe do Senator Douglas no 
injustice to say that at this time he saw the White House in the distance, and 
that he was trimming his sails for a voyage in that direction, and that 
Lincoln had in his vision a seat in the United States Senate. Both were to 
be disappointed in their expectations. Senator Douglas, before he left 
Washington, had heard the mutterings of the storm in the distance, but he 
was illy prepared for his reception in his own state. He arrived in Chicago 
the first of September, and in his first attempt after the passage of his bill to 
address his constituents, he was refused a hearing. We can imagine how 
great and universal was the opposition to the principles of his bill, when the 
Democracy of Chicago refused to hear their great champion and leader in 
defence of it. However, the first demonstration of political displeasure soon 
passed away, and the city which refused to hear the exposition and defence 
of his policy, now honors his dust and points with pride to his monument as 
that of a great leader of a party long in the ascendenc^y in the state. After 
leaving Chicago he addressed the people in several of the principal towns, 
but the feeling of the people was such that his speeches affected the public 
mind but little. In October he arrived in Springfield, on the occasion of the 
State Fair. A large number of representative men from all parts of the 
State had coine together for consultation on the impending political crisis. 
The chief interest of the occasion was in a discussion between Lincoln and 
Douglas. Judge Douglas had long been in public life. His speeches in 
the Senate on the rei>eal of the Missouri compromise and the Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill had given him a national reputation. He was the recognized 
leader of his party in his own state. His exi)erience in de.bate, his great 
ability, his ambition and strong will, and his untiring industry, made him a 
most formidable antagonist. He entered into a defence of his policy with the 
bearing of a man who was determined not to be defeated. That he made an 
able defence on this occasion was acknowledged by all. On the succeeding 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 69 

day Lincoln replied. The Sangamon Journal and the Chicago Press and 
Tribune said it was a masterly eflfort. The Kansas-Nebraska l>ill was the 
subject, and his exposition of its fallacies was declared to be unanswerable 
and overwhelmning. The following passage is given as being worthy of note 
for its effect on his audience : " My distinguished friend says it is an insult 
to the emigrants to Kansas and Nebraska to suppose they are not aVjle to 
govern themselves. We must not slur over an argument of this kind 
because it happened to tickle the ear. It must be met and answered. I 
admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska is competent to govern 
himself, but," the speaker said, rising to his full hight, " 1 deny his right to 
govern any other person without that person's consent." This was the 
whole difference and matter between him and Douglas, and the people so 
understood it. 

The next meeting between the champions took place at Peoria shortly 
afterwards. The speeches made here were reported. In this instance Lin- 
coln's triumph was more complete than at Springfield. It was evident that 
Judge Douglas had become conscious that he was not invulnerable. He 
had evidence of Lincoln's power over the people, and did not manifest his 
usual confidence in the principle he had espoused. It may be here remarked 
that Lincoln in his political speeches never resorted to the tricks of stump 
speakers. The real questions at issue occupied his entire attention. He 
never endeavored to raise a false issue or evade a real one. If he told a 
story it was not to amuse his audience, but to illustrate his argument. He 
was always in earnest and closely argumentative. Here, as at Springfield, 
Lincoln occupied more than three hours in the delivery of his speech. One 
passage will suffice to illustrate both. Judge Douglas argued that the people 
of Illinois had no interest in the question of slavery in the Territories, that it 
only concerned the people of the Territories. This was in accordance with 
his own feelings when he declared that he did not care whether slavery was 
"voted up or voted down " in Kansas. Lincoln opposed this on the broad 
ground of humanity and the terms of the Declaration of Independence, but tu 
bring the argument more directly home, and to show his audience and the 
people of Illinois that they had a practical interest in the question of slavery 
in the Territories, he said: " By the Constitution each State has two Sen- 
ators ; each has a number of Representatives in proportion to the number of 
its people ; but in ascertaining the number of the people for this purpose five 
slaves are counted as equal to three whites. The slaves do not vote ; they 
are only counted and so used as to swell the influence of the white man's 
vote. To show the comyjarison we will take the States of Maine and South 
Carolina. Both States are equally represented in the Congress of the United 
States. Now how are they in the number of their white people ? Maine has 



70 • LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

581,813, while South Carolina has 274,567. Maine has twice the number 
that South Carolina has and 32,679 over. Then the influence of each white 
man in South Carolina is more than double that of any man in Maine. This 
is all because South Carolina has, besides her white people, 887,984 slaves. 
The South Carolinan has precisely the same advantage over us, as M'ell as 
over every white man in every free State. This principle in the aggregate 
gives the slave States in the present Congress twenty additional Representa- 
tives, being seven more than the majority by which they passed the Nebraska 
bill. I do not mention it to complain of it in so far as it is already settled. 
It is in the Constitution, and I do not, for that cause or any other cause, pro- 
pose to alter or destroy or disregard the Constitution. I stand by it fairly, 
fully and firmly. But when I am told that I must leave it altogether to others 
to say whether new partners are to be bred up and brought into the firm on 
the same degrading terms against me, I must respectfully demur. I insist 
that whether I shall be a whole man or the half of one, or less, in comparison 
with others, is a question in which I am somewhat concerned, and one which 
no other man can have a sacred right of deciding for me." 

Lincoln would have been gratified to have continued those discussions 
with Douglas in other parts of the State. There was a revolution in public 
opinion evidently in progress. An election for the members of the State 
Legislature was near at hand. The friends of Douglas had called him from 
Washington to defend his course in the National Legislature and his Nebraska 
bill, before the j)eople. He had come and endeavored to turn and stay the 
current of revolution, but had signally failed. He now saw that it would not 
be prudent to continue the contest. He had been engaged in a heavy skirm- 
ish and had been worsted. He felt like retiring and preparing for the decisive 
battle which was yet to come. It is certain after the close of the debates a 
conference between Lincoln and Douglas was held and of the result there 
have been various reports. Whatever it was, Douglas returned to Washington 
and Lincoln continued to address the people in different parts of the State. 

The excitement attending the election of members of the Legislature at 
this time was without a parallel in the State. Owing very materially to 
Lincoln's efforts, for the first time since the Democratic party was first organ- 
ized, the Legislature of Illinois was in the hands of the opposition. Three 
tickets were in the field— Democratic, Anti-Nebraska and Whig. The interest 
attending this election continued until the meeting of the Legislature. 
There were two antagonistic elements or interests to be harmonized in order 
to succeed or beat the nominee of the Democrats, who still held to Judge 
Douglas as their leader. The Anti-Nebraska Democrats would not unite in 
caucus with the Whigs, and three candidates for United States Senator were 



OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 71 

nominated by the respective parties. Lincoln was the nominee of the Whi<;s, 
Lyman Trumbull of the Aiiti-Nebraska Democrats and General James Shields, 
the then incumbent, of the Douglas Democrats. On joint ballot the Demo- 
crats had forty-four votes, the Whigs, forty-five votes and the Anti-Nebraska 
men, ten votes. In?the Senatorial Convention on the first ballot General 
Shields received forty-one votes, Lincoln, forty-five votes, scattering 
thirteen votes. The balloting was continued until the sixth ballot was taken, 
without materially changing the votes. On the seventh ballot the Democrats 
dropped Shields and placed in nomination Governor Mattison, who received 
forty-four votes, Lincoln, thirty-eight votes, Trumbull, nine votes, scattering 
thirteen votes. On the tenth ballot, Lincoln having withdrawn his name, 
Trumbull received fifty-one votes and Mattison forty-seven votes. Here was 
seen the magnanimity and devotion of Lincoln to principle. That he was desir- 
ous and ambitious for the honors of this high office there can be no question. 
He saw, however, on the selection by the Democrats of Governor Mattison 
as their candidate, who had not committed himself on the great question, that 
there was a possibility of his election. He urged his friends to leave him 
and go for Trumbull. With reluctance they yielded to his entreaties, and the 
result was the astonishment of the Democrats, who did not believe that the 
opposition could unite. To a friend of his in the Legislature, who was 
strongly opposed to voting for Trumbull, Lincoln said: "I think the indi- 
cations now are that unless the Whigs unite on Trumbull, Mattison will be 
elected, and this, if possible, we should prevent. In voting for Trumbull the 
Whigs sacrifice no principle. Trumbull is with us on the great principle 
we have been contending for, and if the Whigs unite on him, we shall secure 
the Anti-Nebraska vote, which is more important to us than the election of a 
Whig Senator which now is, I think, not possible. The non-extension of 
slavery is to be the great party question in our next State and national elec- 
tion, and we should take every legitimate measure to secure friends and 
strength for our party and principles, and it seems to me that we can da 
much in that direction by^the election of Trumbull." Lincoln had no reason 
to regret his personal sacrifice, for, as he predicted, the opposition soon 
united, and he was selected as their standard bearer. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

At this period, 1854, politics in Illinois, as well as in all the free States, 
was in a chaotic state. Whigs, native American and Anti-Nebraska Demo- 
crats composed the opposition to the Democracy. Lincoln was still a Whig, 
but he had become convinced from passing events that the organization 
was in a state of disruption ; the interest of slavery had severed it forever 
from the southern portion that had made it a powerful national party. 

On the vote to repeal the Missouri compromise, the Southern Whigs had 
united and voted with the Democrats, and this union created two sectional 
parties — the opposition to the extension of slavery was sectional and the party 
that formed this opposition, however broad its views might be, was neces- 
sarily sectional. Lincoln was not slow to perceive that this unity of the South 
in favor of the extension of slavery with and in the name of the Democratic 
party, would unite all opposed to those measures in one great party, and that 
the time for its organization was at hand. A convention had been called to 
meet at Bloomington, May 29, 1856. Here, with Lincoln's assistance, the 
Republican party of Illinois was organized, a State ticket nominated and a 
delegation appointed to the National Republican Convention to assemble at 
Philadelphia on the 17th of June. Lincoln was now an active member of a 
party whose avowed purpose it was to resist the extension of slavery in the 
Territories, and confine it to the States where it only held its rights under the 
Constitution. He made a speech on this occasion which was of marked 
power and eloquence. A writer says: "Never was an audience more 
electrified by human eloquence. Again and again during the progress of its 
delivery the audience sprang to their feet and upon benches and testified by 
long continued shouts and the waving of hats how feelingly the speaker h^d 
wrought upon their minds and hearts." Lincoln was now regarded, not only 
by the Republicans of Illinois, but by all the Western States, as the first man 
in the party. His name was presented to the National Convention as their 
candidate for Vice-President. On the informal ballot he received 110 votes 
72 



OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 73 

to 259 for Dayton. The vote was a com]>liinentary one, and was Lincoln's first 
formal introduction to the nation. 

Lincoln engaged with his usual earnestness and energy in puhlic addresses 
during the campaign for Fremont and Dayton, the Republican nominees, and 
had the satisfaction, after a heated and spirited contest, to find a notaV)le 
change in the pohtics of his State. Col. W. H. Bissell, nominated in oppo- 
sition to the Democratic candidate, was elected Governor by a large majoritv. 
Lincoln's readiness in turning a political point was fully illustrated by him 
during this campaign while making a speech in Coles county. A voice in the 
crowd called out : " Mr. Lincoln, is it true that you entered thisState driving 
an ox team barefooted ? ' ' Lincoln paused a moment as if considering whether 
he should notice such cool impertinence, and then said: " I think I could 
prove that fact bv at least a dozen men in this crowd, any one of whom is far 
more respectable than my questioner." The question seemed to inspire him, 
and he proceeded to state what free institutions had done for himself, and to 
show the evils of slavery to the poor struggling white man wherever it existed, 
and then asked if it was not natural that he should hate slavery and speak 
against it. " Yes," said lie, " We will speak for freedom and against slavery as 
long as the constitution of our country guarantees free speech — until every- 
where on this wide land, the sun shall shine and the rain shall fall, and the 
wind shall blow upon no man who goes forth to unrequited toil." From this 
time, it may be said, that Lincoln was, to the close of his life, enga^^ed in 
political affairs. He now only occasionally, in the line of his profession, took 
charge of important cases in the higher courts. 

Soon after the inauguration of President Buchanan, Senator Douglas was 
invited to deliver a speech at Springfield, Illinois. In that speech the Senator 
exhibited the progress he had made in his principles and his departure from 
the fundamental tenets of the fathers of the republic, by announcing that the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence, when they asserted " that all 
men are created equal," only meant to say, "that British subjects on this 
continent were equal to British subjects born and residing in Great Britain." 

Lincoln was invited by many of the citizens to reply and he did so. After 
giving in his ingenious manner the absurdity and the ridiculous interpretation 
of that sacred instrument, he then said he would give his opinion as to what 
the framers of the declaration meant. It was stated 'in such a liberal and 
catholic spirit that the following extract will be admired and appreciated. 
He said : "I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include 
all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects. 
They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral 
development or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness 



74 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

in what respect they did consider all men equal — equal in certain 'inalienable 
rights,' among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They 
said this and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious 
untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet that they 
were about to confer such a boon. In fact, they had no power to confer that 
equality. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enjoyment of 
it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set 
up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all and be 
revered by all, constantly looking to, constantly laboring for and even 
though never perfectly attained, constantly approximating and thereby con- 
stantly spreading, deepening in its influence and augmenting the happiness- 
and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere." 

The purposes and intention of making Kansas a slave State, which Lin- 
coln had foreseen and foretold, was now in full progress. Under the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill a pro-slavery Legislature was elected, mostly by non-residents. 
The free-soil men, who numbered three-fourths of the population, refused to 
participate nn account of the illegality of the election. This Legislature met 
at Lecompton and passed an Act providing for the election of delegates to a 
convention to form a State Constitution. In the election of the members to 
this convention the free-soil men took no part, on the ground that the Legis- 
lature which ordered it had no legal authority. Only 2,000 votes were polled, 
whereas the legal voters in the Territory were not less than 10,000. The 
convention met and a pro-slavery constitution was formed. The history of 
its fate will be incidentally mentioned in a succeeding chapter. The great 
struggle for freedom and the non-extension of slavery was now approaching 
and near at hand, and here may properly be stated the political standing and 
connections which Lincoln and Douglas sustained and supported in this great 
national contest. 

The Senatorial term of Douglas was now about to terminate, and he 
desired that his senatorial action should be indorsed and approved by the 
people of his State, and he be returned again to the Senate. But events in 
Kansas had taken a course he had not anticipated or desired. The burden of 
the pro-slavery constitution was pressing heavily on his shoulders, and he at 
first endeavored to shift the load on the Kepublican party. In this attempt, 
in a speech delivered at Springfield, speaking of Kansas, he said: "The 
law under which the delegates to the convention are now about to be elected, 
is fair and just in its provisions, and if any portion of the inhabitants acting 
under the advice of political leaders shall absent themselves from the polls, 
on that party must rest the responsibility." By these words, Douglas was 
fully committed to whatever might be the action and conclusions of the con- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 75 

vention. He had freely and voluntarily given the slave power what it had 
not asked for in the Kansas-Nebraska bill ; he had offered and given the 
slave power the privilege and opportunity of making slave States out of terri- 
tory set apart for freedom, if it could; and now the people were about to 
hold him responsible for the offspring of his own creation. In his desire to 
conciliate and please the slave power, he had divided his own party in his 
own State, and he was not slow to observe that his own political success in 
the future was in danger. He was soon assured that he could not place the 
burden of the Kansas obloquy upon the Republicans^ and that his only pros- 
pect of re-election to the Senate required him to take issue with the Demo- 
cratic administration in this case and assume the championship of the anti- 
Lecompton party. 

As the most notable and important period in Lincoln's history was his 
contest with Douglas for a seat in the United States Senate in 1858, and for 
the Presidency in 1860, it may be proper here to say something further 
in reference to Douglas himself : 

His career in his adopted State as a political aspirant had been one of 
remarkable success. He had from his first entry into public life acquired the 
confidence and support of his party, and long had he been honored and recog- 
nized as its leader, and had secured the power and influence second to none 
in his State. In the Senate and national councils he had achieved a national 
reputation of which he might well be proud. On all important questions of 
national significance he wielded a force and influence excelled by none ; he 
had labored for and done much in promoting and advancing the interests and 
prosperity of his adopted State ; to the material interests Of and to the success, 
advancement and preservation of the power of his party he was fully com- 
mitted and devoted, and his party had always given him its entire confidence 
and support. The national reputation that Douglas had secured and achieved 
encouraged his friends to present his name as a candidate for the Presidency 
in the Democratic Convention in 1852 ; in that convention he received ninety- 
two votes. In the Democratic Convention of 185() he was again a candidate, 
receiving 122 votes out of 296, and the nomination of Buchanan was only 
♦effected by Douglas requesting his friends to withdraw his name from the 
contest. These popular manifestations of favor had inspired Douglas with 
the hope that in 1860 he would be the nominee of the Democratic party for 
President. His Kansas-Nebraska bill was intended by him as a popular 
measure for effect in that direction ; it was a bid for the votes of the South, 
and the doctrine of popular sovereignty was intended to make the provisions 
of the bill acceptable to the Democracy of the free States. The success 



76 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Douglas had not been unnoticed by Lincoln ; he had admiration for his tact, 
and respect for his power Tyith the people. 

In one of Lincoln's original manuscrijits, speaking of Douglas as Senator, 
he said: " I effect no contempt for the high eminence he has reached — so 
reached that the oppressed of my species might have shared with the 
elevation. I would rather stand on that eminence than wear the richest 
crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow." Noble words, worthy of him 
who exemplified and uttered them. 

The adoption of the Lecompton constitution bj^ the pro-slavery vote in 
Kansas had dispelled the illusion of popular sovereignty in the free States, as it 
was fully demonstrated that it was not the act and deed of the people of Kansas. 
At this time the administration at Washington had committed itself in favor 
of the Lecompton constitution, and no apparent opposition was manifested 
against it by the leaders of the Democratic party. Before Douglas left Illinois 
for Washington it was said that he would not support the administration in its 
approval of the Lecompton constitution, nor are we prepared to say that 
Douglas was not actuated by the best of motives in this resolution. To 
oppose that constitution was not inconsistent with his doctrine of popular 
sovereignty when taken by itself, for it was clear and certain that this consti- 
tution was not the act and deed of the citizens of Kansas. It is proper here to 
remark that Douglas saw now clearly that he could not carry the Lecompton 
constitution through the senatorial contest in his State, then impending, and 
he saw also that his opposition to the Lecompton fraud w'ould take from the 
Republican party some of its best capital and lessen the efforts of the oppo- 
sition to defeat him. On taking his seat in the Senate on his arrival at the 
national capital, Douglas startled many of his Democratic friends by taking 
his stand against the administration on the Lecompton question. In oppo- 
sition to that slavery constitution he labored and voted with the Republicans. 
It was a stand — a step not often taken by politicians ; it lost him the sup- 
port of the South in his Presidential aspirations, and it was his only salvation 
in Jiis senatorial aspiration in his own State. It was a bold step, and we may 
not say that it was not a patriotic one, but taken in all its connections, it was 
a remarkable one. He it was who, by his Kansas-Nebraska bill, had opened 
this free territory to this outrage, and he was now about to, by his own , 
action and efforts, strangle his own legitimate offspring at its christening. 
In the final vote in the Senate, Douglas, with three other Democrats, voted 
against the Lecompton constitution, and in the House twenty Democrats 
voted the same way ; the votes defeated the measure. Douglas, in his action 
on this measure and against the administration was endorsed by most all the 
Democrats of his own State, and the administration, in its efforts to defeat 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 

him in his senatorial canvass was only able to carry a small faction against 
him. 

This stand taken by Douglas, while he lost the support of a few adminis- 
tration adherents in his own State, rendered him so poj)nlar witli the Repub- 
licans in the eastern States that many of them not knowing the causes and 
motives by which he was actuated, desired and recommended that the Repub- 
lican party of Illinois should aid in returning him to the United States 
Senate. While this act of Douglas led the Republicans of Illinois to feel grate- 
ful for liis aid in defeating this iniquitous measure, they well knew that his 
course was moved in that direction not by any love he had for the Reiniblican 
party. Douglas was only at variance with the administration on a point of 
difference as to what was the act and deed of the citizens of Kansas, and the 
Republicans of his State, knowing well the cause and motives of his disagree- 
ment with the administration, saw in the future no probability of any further 
agreement or aid in the support of the measures and principles of their party, 
and events in the near future proved the correctness of their conclusions. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SENATORIAL CONTEST OF LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS. 

Before the close of the session of Congress in 1857-8, Douglas returned 
home to look after his senatorial interests and prepare for the most important 
and closely contested canvass of his political life. He was a candidate for 
re-election to the United States Senate, and the Democratic State Conven- 
tion of Illinois of April 21, 1858, indorsed his course and votes against the 
Lecompton constitution. His popularity and power over his party in his own 
State was fully manifested during this campaign, when all the efforts of the 
administration, combined with the Republicans, failed to defeat him. 

The Republican State Convention met at Springfield on the 16th of June, 
two months after the meeting of the Democratic Convention. The conven- 
tion had hardly assembled beforre it was evident that there was an entire 
unanimity for Lincoln as its nominee for the Senate in opposition to Douglas. 
After some preliminary business, the following resolution was introduced and 
unanimously adopted : 

" That Hon. Abraham Lincoln is our first and only choice for United 
States Senator to fill the vacancy about to be created by the expiration of Mr. 
Douglas' term of office." 

Lincoln was prepared for this action of the convention, and posters soon 
announced that he would address his fellow citizens in the State House in 
the evening. The hall of the House of Representatives, at 8 o'clock v. m., 
was filled to its utmost capacity, and Lincoln was received with unbounded 
applause. The desire to hear Lincoln on this occasion was very great, and 
his speech, which was listened to with intense interest, occupied three hours 
in its delivery. It made no appeal to partisan prejudices, contained no 
tricks to win ))olitieal applause. He stated the real issue of the political con- 
test, and laid out the ground work upon which he proposed to stand and fight 
the battle for freedom. The first point he presented was, that in his opinion 
our government could not endure permanently half slave and half free. He 

controverted the position of the friends of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill as being 

78 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 79 

founded on popular sovereignty, and fully exposed the Nebraska doctrine 
which was intended to mould or educate public opinion, particularly in the 
North, not to care whether slavery was voted up or down in the territories, 
and showed fully that while the inhabitants of a Territory could, under the 
provisions of that bill, establish slavery, they were debarred by the Dred 
Scott decision of the United States Supreme Court from excluding slavery 
from any Territory. One point in that notable decision was, " That subject 
to the Constitution of the United States, neither Congress or a Territorial 
Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory." And as 
this Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court enters largely into the discus- 
sions of the policy of the two parties, the following is a further extract from 
that notable decision : " That no negro slave imported as such from Africa, 
and no descendant of such slave can ever be a citizen of any State in the sense 
of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States." 

The members of the convention and the numerous audience were pro- 
foundly impressed by the address of Mr. Lincoln. His manner and his earnest 
appeals to their patriotic sensibilities and sense of duty carried conviction to 
the minds of all that he was discussing the gravest and most momentous 
political questions and issues of the day and age. 

Senator Douglas, on the 9th of July, made his first appearance in the 
senatorial campaign before a Chicago audience, and his reception on that 
occasion was an imposing one — one that gave him pleasure which he did not 
strive to conceal. A few months previous he was denied a hearing, and now 
in the same place he was received with applause. He had voted against the 
Lecompton constitution, and his former sins were forgotton or not mentioned. 
The Senator, in his speech, reviewed the action of the late Republican Con- 
vention and Lincoln's speech on that occasion, commenting on his opinion 
that this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. He 
unfairly proceeded to say that Lincoln by this advocated broadly and clearly 
a war of sections — a war of the North against the South — to be continued 
relentlessly until one or the other shall be subdued — until all the States shall 
become either slave or free. Following in this train of argument, which was 
as unfair as illegitimate, he next charged Lincoln with a desire and policy to 
reduce the States to a perfect uniformity of interests and institutions, contrary 
to policy and usages of the republic. Lincoln's criticisms of the Dred Scott 
decision were next treated in a manner by the Senator which was not in 
unison with the sentiments and feelings of the larger portion of his audience. 
In his remarks, he said : " I respect the august decisions of that tribunal. I 
shall always bow in deference to them. I am equally free to say that tlie 
reason assigned by Mr. Lincoln for resisting the decisions of the Supreme 



80 OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Court in the Dred Scott decision does not in itself meet my approbation." 
The whole tenor of the Senator's speech was intended to misrepresent Mr. 
Lincoln and place him in a false light before the public. Lincoln was present, 
heard the whole speech, and it was announced that on the following evening 
he would reply to it. 

The welcome Lincoln received when he took the stand the following 
evening was quite as enthusiastic as Douglas had received the previous even- 
ing. He was introduced by Hon. C. L. Wilson of Chicago, and when he 
came forward there was such a storm of loud and continued applause that he 
was obliged to extend his hand before he could secure silence necessary for 
proceeding. After treating of some minor subjects he proceeded to the points 
of Douglas' speech, and treated them fully and fairly. Referring to the 
remarks of Douglas, that he advocated a war of sections of the North against 
South, he said : 

"The adoption of the constitution, and its attendant history, led the 
people to believe that slavery was in the course of ultimate extinction, and 
such was the belief of the framers of the constitution itself; if not so, why 
did the fathers declare that slavery should not go into the Territories ; why 
declare that within twenty years the African slave trade might be abolished ; 
why these acts and more that might be enumerated — but a clear indication 
that the framers of the constitution intended and exj^ected the ultimate ex- 
tinction of slavery? I have said a hundred times, and I have no desire or 
inclination to take it back, that I believe there is no right, and ought to be no 
inclination in the people of the free States to enter into the slave States and 
interfere with the question of slavery at all." 

The charge made by Douglas that Lincoln was in favor of reducing the 
institutions of all the States to uniformity was by Lincoln so clearly handled 
and utterly demolished that the charge was not again reiterated during the 
campaign. 

The reasons here given by Lincoln for his opposition to the Dred Scott 
decision were so full and conclusive that his audience manifested in the 
strongest manner tlieir unison and concord with the speaker on this suV)ject. 

Lincoln had reason to be gratified with his speech and his reception by 
the citizens of Chicago on this occasion. His enthusiastic reception, the close 
attention, the favor with wliich his arguments were received, indicated that 
already a change was taking i)lace against the further extension of slavery, in 
the sentiments and minds of his auditors. 

This local contest for a State election was now inaugurated and opened, 
but at the very outset it was assuming questions of national importance. 
With tlie Republicans it was no further extension of slavery, and here Lin- 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 81 

coin took his stand, while Douglas, with the Democrats, held to the Nebraska 
bill, leaving the question of slavery to be settled by the inhabitants of the 
State or Territory proposed to be admitted into the Union. How far Lincoln 
was moved in this contest by Presidential aspirations we are not prepared to 
say. That he desired and intended that his speeches should have a national 
reputation and effect is apparent, and that he considered the senatorial contest 
of secondary importance his speeches clearly indicated, as well as his replies 
to his friends who insisted that his intention to draw Douglas out fully on the 
Dred Scott decision was not politic. His friends said : " If you put that ques- 
tion to him he will perceive that an answer giving practical force and effect to 
the Dred Scott decision in the Territories will lose him the battle, and he will 
replj- by offering the decision as an abstract iirinciple, but at the same time 
denying its practical application." But, said Lincoln, "If he does that h© 
never can be President." His friends replied, " That is not your lookout; 
you are after the Senatorship." Lincoln rei)lied, " No, gentlemen ; I am 
killing larger game. The battle of 18()0 is worth a hundred of this." 

This contest of Douglas with Lincoln was a mazy and difficult one. He 
had inaugurated his i)lausible theory of popular sovereignty, and introduced 
and passed his Kansas-Nebraska bill — the first to please tlie Nortli, the last 
to satisfy the South ; but the untimely introduction of the Lecompton pro- 
slavery constitution compelled him to change his tactics in order to save his 
place in the Senate ; and now to regain, if possible, his lost popularity in the 
South, he was giving in his adhesion to the Dred Scott decision — a decision 
utterly at variance with popular sovereignty. Douglas had, by his opjHjsition 
to the pro-slavery constitution, regained, in a large measure, his popularity with 
his party lost by the enactment of his Nebraska bill and the opposition against 
him in this contest by the administration gave him sympathy even with the 

Republicans. 

Douglas, a week after his Chicago speech, addressed the Democracy 

at Bloomington, and the following day at Springfield. The special points 
which he elaborated were his popular sovereignty notions, and his disagree- 
ment with and opposition to the administration on the Lecompton question. 
Mr. Lincoln was present at Bloomington during the delivery of the Senator's 
speech, taking notes and preparing himself for the struggle on which he had 
entered, and on the day following he addressed the people at Springfield 
at a sul')sequent meeting to that addressed by Douglas. 

Mr. Lincoln opened his address by speaking of the disadvantages which 
the Republicans were subjected to by the unfair and unjust apportionment of 
the legislative districts, and he also referred to the disparity that existed 
between the reputation and prospects of the two candidates for senatorial 
honors. He then proceeded to say : 



82 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



"The anxious friends of Douglas have been hoping, and now expect, that 
at no distant day he will be President of the United States. They see not far 
in the future postoffices, land offices, foreign missions, marshalships, and as 
they gaze on this beautiful picture, they are redoubling their efforts and 
labors to make his election sure, and in this respect Judge Dou-las has 
me at an advantage. Nobody ever expected me to be President, and in my 
poor, lean, lank face, nobody has ever seen any cabbage sprouting out." 

In closing his address on this occasion, Lincoln |lield up to his audience 
m a vivid exposition the course Douglas was pursuing in being a party to con- 
spiracy, intending to deceive the people with the plausible idea that the 
settlers of the Territories could exclude slavery from their borders if they 
chose to do so, while at the same time Douglas well knew that the decision of 
the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, rendered it impossible for them to 
do so. Referring to this, Lincoln said: "This charge, which is a serious 
and important one, was made in my speech of June the 17th, and Jud<^e 
Douglas has, up to the present, ignored it. Since it was made he has not 
alluded to it at all. On his own tacit admission, I now renew the charge." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SENATORIAL CONTEST CONTINUED. 

The senatorial contest between Lincoln and Douglas had taken national 
issues, and, in a remarkable degree, was exciting the interest of both parties 
throughout the Union. 

The Republicans of the Eastern States who had at first favored Douglas 
in his ardent desire to be returned to the Senate, in return for his opposition 
to the administration on the question of the passage of the Lecompton consti- 
tution, were now satisfied, from the published reports of the speeches of 
Douglas, that he would give no support to the party opposed to the extension 
of slavery. 

Lincoln had observed with pleasure and interest the attention that was 
being given by the public men and press throughout the Union to the contest, 
and in order to bring himself more fully in contact with the Democratic voters, 
and to press on the auditory whom Douglas addressed, the deception and 
sophistry of Douglas' arguments and reasoning as to the effects of the Dred 
Scott decision, he was anxious to address the same audiences at the 
same meeting with his antagonist. To eflect this desired object, on the 
twenty-fourth of July he forwarded the Senator the following note : 

" Hon. S. a. Douglas— 3% Dear Sir: Will it be agreeable to you to make 
an arrangement for you and myself to divide time and address the same 
audiences the present canvass ? Mr. Judd, who will hand you this, is author- 
ized to receive your answer, and, if agreeable to yon, to enter into the terms 
of such arrangement. Your obedient servant, 

A. Lincoln." 

In reply Douglas said, "That recent events had placed difficulties in 
the way of such an arrangement ; that he had made a series of appointments 
extending over nearly the whole period that remained heiore the election, 
and that candidates for Congress, the Legislature and other otlices would 

83 



84 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

desire to speak at those meetings. While, therefore, he declined the general 
invitation, he would make an arrangement for seven joint debates in the 
congressional districts respectively, where they had not already spoken." 

The agreement was consumated between the two champions, and the 
following places and times designated: Ottowa, August 21,1858; Freeport, 
27 ; Jonesboro, September 15 ; Charleston, September 18 ; Galesburg, 
October 7; Quincy, October 13, and Alton, October 15. During the period 
before the first aijpointment both parties were engaged in their independent 
work. 

The first meeting of the series agreed upon was held at Ottowa. A large 
concourse of people, estimated at twelve thousand, were present. Douglas 
had the opening speech of one hour, followed by Lincoln of one hour and a 
half, and concluded by Douglas in a half hour. And this was the arrange- 
ment to be followed alternately through the series of debates. The limits of 
this work will not permit even in an abreviated form a report of the speeches 
delivered at this series of debates. They were all printed soon after the cam- 
paign closed, without note or comment, and were read and re-read by the 
millions of American voters before the great political contest of 1860 closed. 
This great contest between Lincoln and Douglas, aside from its local issues, 
assumed this order : Has Congress the power under the constitution to pro- 
hibit slavery in all the Territories of the United States ; and if so, is it the duty 
of Congress to carry this power into eS'ect? Lincoln assumed the affirmation 
of these propositions. He placed himself on the broad platform of the 
Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, and are endowed 
with rights which are inalienable, such as life, liberty and the pursuits of 
happiness. He held that all men, without distinction of race or color, are 
included in this declaration. He believed that slavery lived by the side of 
freedom, and in a state of sufferance with it, simply because freedom regarded 
itself as eternal, while it regarded slavery as ephemeral. He understood, 
from the history of the Republic, that it was so held and regarded by the 
illustrious patriots that gave us our constitution and organized our government, 
and in their prohibiting slavery in all the territory of the United States at 
that time, they anticipated and expected the end of slavery at no distant day. 
And now, when it was the design and policy of the government under the 
present administration and its supporters to nationalize slavery and make it 
perpetual, to give it by judicial authority more rights than freedom, and even 
to make it impossible for freedom or the people to abolish or overthrow it, 
he believed a conflict would arise which would continue until the question 
was settled by its extinction or its universal i)redominance. In this issue 
Lincoln was disposed to take the side of freedom, because he believed that 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 85 

slavery should be restricted to the States in wliich it was constitutionally 
tolerated, and tliat Congress, having the power, should l)y appropriate legis- 
lation prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the United States. 

Douglas assumed that the peoi)le of every Territory had the right to 
decide for themselves as to whether they would have slavery or freedom ; 
that neither Illinois nor any other State had any right or interest in the 
decision of that question ; that what those rights should be was only 
legitimately to be determined bj' the States or Territories tliemselves. 
On these points, with the side issues — the Nebraska bill, iioi)ular sover- 
eignty, the Dred Scott decision, the abrogation of the Missouri compro- 
mise, a fugitive slave law — were the seven debates maintained and contested 
by the speakers. There was in those debates one particular point in which 
Lincoln had forced Douglas into a declaration and position unfavorable for 
his Presidential aspirations. In the early stage of the canvass, before the 
arrangements for the joint debates were made, Douglass, in a speech at 
Springfield, had indorsed the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court and 
severely criticised Lincoln's opposition to that decision. During the joint 
debates Lincoln so clearly showed the fallacy of Douglas' theory of popular 
sovereignty in connection with that decision that Douglas, in order to 
save himself from defeat for the Senatorship, was compelled to change 
his position, in answer to Lincoln's inquiry, " Can the people of a 
United States Territory in any lawful way, against the wish of any 
citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to 
the formation of a State constitution?" The Dred Scott decision he had 
indorsed, and which he said he would sustain, said " no." But the 
political barometer had fallen, and now Douglas, in answer to Lin- 
coln's question, says : "It matters not what way the Supreme Court may 
hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or not go 
into a Territory under the constitution, the people have the lawful means to 
introduce it, or exclude it as they may please, for the reason that slavery 
cannot exist a day or an honr anywhere unless it is supported by local police 
regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local 
legislature, and if the people are opposed to slavery they will elect representa- 
tives to that body who will, by unfriendly legislation, effectually prevent the 
introduction of it into their midst." 

It was the intention and aim of Lincoln in requesting and arranging the 
joint debates with Douglas, to force him into such an open declaration of 
slavery as to secure his defeat for the office of Senator, or, failing in this, to 
compel him into such declarations on behalf of freedom as would ruin him as a 
Southern candidate for the Presidency. This concession of Douglas to free- 



86 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

dom, without doubt saved him the Senatorship, while it is equally certain 
that with it went the last hope for Southern support in his Presidential 
aspirations. 

Pollard, the Southern historian, in his history of the " Lost Cause," says : 
" It is thus seen that Mr. Douglas has tortured the language of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill into the sense that the unorganized population of a Territory 
might decide the question of slavery as against the States' interest of the 
South, thus indicating to the North that this measure might quite as easily 
and readily exclude slavery as the intervention of Congress, the right of which 
the black Republican party claimed." 

The absurdity of adhering to the Dred Scott decision and advocating 
popular sovereignty at the same time, Lincoln showed in a single sentence, 
giving the whole argument. He said: " It was declaring no less than that 
a thing may be lawfully driven away from a place where it has a lawful right 
to be." 

Those who have read those debates have not failed to notice that Douglas, 
by his artful appeals to a principle, which was only a shadow without the 
substance, was creating false issues, leading his audiences by appeals to their 
prejudices, from the real principles involved in the contest. Lincoln made 
no efforts to gain applause, but with zealous tenacity he mastered the great 
questions he had in hand, and refused in every instance to be drawn or led 
away from the real issues of the campaign. Thus briefly have been stated 
the principles of the two champions and that of the i^arties they represented, 
the merits of the controversy at issue and their methods of conducting the 
canvass. They attracted to their debates immense concourses of people, and 
the entire nation watched the contest with a solicitude and interest which 
indicated the national character of the issues involved. While the canvass 
was local, the questions and issues were national and they indicated the plat- 
forms and policies of the parties of the next Presidential contest. Politicians 
of the East as well as those of the South were now looking to the West with 
eager interest as Lincoln marshaled the young Republicans and the little 
giant the old Democracy, for the great contest of principles which was near 
at hand. It may be said that the text-book of the jirinciples of the Republican 
party on the question of slavery may be found in the speeches of Lincoln 
delivered during this contest. They are so clear in the exposition of the 
principles of the Republican party, and so plain in their statement of the 
issues which divided it from the Democratic party at that time, that they 
came to be regarded as a complete and correct statement of the spirit of 
freedom and the purposes and power of slavery. Those speeches which 
Lincoln delivered in this memorable contest, with others delivered in Kansas, 
Ohio, New York and New England, covered the whole questions at issue 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 87 

between the two parties, and form the chief superstructure on which his 
reputation and fame as an orator and debater stands. Viewed in the Hght 
of a contest between the power of slavery and the spirit of freedom, the judg- 
ment of mankind has long since recorded its verdict and decision that Lincoln 
was victorious and successful; before the people of his'own State, the record 
shows that he received a majority in the popular vote over Douglas of four 
thousand one hundred and forty votes-. This vote, had the people been per- 
mitted to decide the question directly, would have returned Lincoln to the 
Senate, but the State Legislature was the tribunal that was to pass finally 
upon the senatorial election, and fortunately for the country, as the future 
showed, but unfortunately as it appeared at that time for Lincoln, the Demo- 
crats had by an unfair districting of the State secured an advantage which 
could not be overcome. 

In the Senate the parties stood fourteen Democrats and eleven Repub- 
licans ; in the Lower House, forty Democrats and thirty-five Republicans. 
This secured the re-election of Douglas, but the majority against him in the 
popular vote took from his triumph the exultation of success. By the unfair 
apportionment Lincoln was defeated in the Legislature, after a contest in 
w^hich the principles of the Republican party were urged with surprising 
power and persistence, with fairness and skill rarely, if ever, surpassed. He 
was conscious that he had the advantage and had worsted his opponent before 
the people in the moral and intellectual struggle, and when defeat came in 
the manner in which it did, he was disappointed. AVhen asked by a friend 
how he felt after the result was known, he replied, " That he felt, he pre- 
sumed, very much like the boy that stubbed his toe — too bad to ilaugh, and 
too big to cry." Much was said in those debates between Lincoln and 
Douglas as to what the signers of the Declaration of Independence intended 
when they said, " All men are created equal, and are endowed with certain 
inalienable rights," Lincoln holding that all men without distinction or color, 
Douglas, that only white men were intended to be included in that declara- 
tion. 

The following extract from a speech delivered by Hon. A. II. Stephens 
(Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy) at Savannah, Georgia, in 18G0, 
will give an honest Southern opinion and be pertinent to that disputed 
question : 

Mr. Stephens said: " But whether Jefferson fully comprehended the 
great truth upon which that rook stood and stands, may be doubted. The 
prevailing idea entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the 
time of the formation of the old constitution were that the enslavement of the 
African race was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in 



88 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

principle, socially, morally and politically. It was an evil they knew not 
well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was 
that somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be 
evanescent and soon pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the 
constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, 
secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and 
hence no argument can be justly used against the constitutional guarantee 
thus secured, because of the common sentiment of that day. Those ideas, 
however, were fundamentally wrong ; they rested upon the presumption of the 
equality of the races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the 
idea of a government built upon it was wrong. When the storm came and 
the wind blew, it fell." 

Mr. Stephens lived to see that the prevailing ideas of Jefferson and the 
leading statesmen that formed the constitution, relative to African slavery, 
were received and adopted by the American people as correct, and that when, 
the storms came and the winds blew it fell not, because it was founded on a 
rock. 



CHAPTER XV. 

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOB THE PRESIDENCY. 

At the close of the Senatorial contest Lincoln returned to the oractice of 
his profession. His political pursuits for the last few years had interfered 
materially with his professional business. He, however, retained in the 
higher Courts all that he desired to attend to. During the Winter of 1858-9 he 
received invitations from a number of lyceuins to deliver lectures. For the 
purpose of meeting this demand, or to change the range of thought 
from subjects in which he had so long been interested, he wrote out in a 
form of a lecture, a history of inventions, beginning with those described in 
the book of Genesis and running through all the difTerent ages, ending with 
the latest inventions. He delivered this lecture in Springfield and one other 
city. The effort was not a satisfactory one to himself, and probably was not 
attractive to the lecture going public. Delivering lectures and making stump 
speeches require different styles of efforts, and orators are as often as much sur- 
prised themselves as are their audiences at their failures. This failure of 
Lincoln in his lecture on inventions calls to mind his steamboat invention. 
Visitors at Washington will find, on examination in the patent office, in one of 
the show-cases, a little model. It is a plain, simple model of a steamboat, 
roughly fashioned in wood by the hands of Abraham Lincoln. It bears date 
1846, when the inventor was known simply as a successful lawyer and rising 
politician of Springfield, Illinois. The design of the invention is suggestive 
of one phase of Lincoln's early life, when he went up and down the Missis- 
sippi river as a flat-boat captain, and became familiar with the difficulties 
and dangers attending the navigation of the Western rivers. The main idea 
represented by the model is that of an apparatus resembling a noiseless 
bellows placed on each side of the hull of the craft, just below tlie water-line, 
and worked by an odd, but not complicated system of ropes, valves and pulleys. 
When the keel of the boat grated against the sand-bars or other obstructions, 
those bellows were to be filled with air, and the vessel thus buoyed up was 

expected to float lightly over the shoals, which would otherwise have proved a 

8 'J 



90 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEBVICK8 

serions interruption to the voyage. The model, which is about twenty inches 
long, has the appearance of having been whittled with a knife out of a cigar 
box and a shingle, and is built without any elaboration of adornment, or any 
extra apparatus beyond that necessary to show the operation of buoying the 
boat over the obstructions. It is a model carved as one might expect a rail- 
splitter would whittle, strongly and not smoothly, and evidently made with a^ 
view solely to convey, by the simplest possible means, to the minds of the 
patent authorities an idea of the purposes and plans of the simple inventor. 
The label on the steamer's deck informs us that the patent was obtained. 
That little model has reposed there over thirty years, its merits not utilized. 
Soon after this model was deposited in its resting place, the inventor was 
called upon to prepare a model for the transportion of the ship of State over 
the shoals of secession and sand-bars of slavery, obstructions far more peril- 
ous and difficult than any dreamer had imagined or thought of when Lincoln 
wrote his autograph on the prow of his miniature steamer. 

The private letters of Lincoln are so characteristic of his goodness of heart, 
and are so charmingly sincere and natural that one is given for an illustra- 
tion. No one can read them without feeling that his personal friendships 
were the sweetest sources of his happiness. To a friend he wrote : 

" Yours of the 16th announcing that Miss and you are no longer 

twain, but one flesh, reached me this morning. I have no way of telling you 
how much happiness I wish you both, though I believe you both can conceive 
it. I feel somewhat jealous of you both now, for you will be so exclusively 
concerned for one another that I shall be forgotten entirely. My acquaint- 
ance with Miss (I call her thus lest you should think I am speaking of 

her mother) was too short for me to reasonably hope to long be remembered 
by her; and still I am sure I shall not forget her soon. Try if you cannot 
remind her of that debt she owes, and be sure you do not interfere to prevent 
her paying it. I regret to learn that you have resolved not to return to 
Illinois. I shall be lonesome without you. How miserably things seem to 
be arranged in this world ; if we have no friends, we have no pleasures ; and 
if we have them, we are sure to lose them and be doubly pained by the loss. 
I did hope that she and you would make your home here, yet I own I have 
no right to insist. You owe obligations to her ten thousand times more 
sacred than any 'you can owe to others, and in that light let them be 
respected and observed. It is natural that she should desire to remain with her 
relations and friends. As to friends, she could not need them anywhere ; 

she would have them in abundance here. Give my kind regards to Mr. 

and his family, particularly Miss E. ; also your mother, brothers and 

sisters. Ask little E. D if she will ride to town with me if I come there 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 91 

again. And finally, give a double reciprocation of all the love Bhe Bent me. 
Write me often, and believe me, yours forever, Lincoln." 

It was the 10th of May, 1859, that the first movement took form for making 
Lincoln the Republican candidate for President. It was at the Illinois State 
Republican Convention held at Decatur. Lincoln was present as a spectator. 
When he entered the hall he was received with enthusiasm such as is rarely 
accorded on any occasion. This reception left no doubt that the audience 
regarded his late defeat as a great triumph, whose fruits would not long be 
delayed. Lincoln had hardly taken his seat when Lieutenant Oglesby (since 
Governor and United States Senator) of Decatur announced that an old 
Democrat of Macon county desired to make a contribution to the convention. 
The offer being atonce accepted, two old fence-rails, with suitable emblazonry, 
were borne into the convention, and bearing the inscription, "Abraham 
Lincoln, the rail candidate for the Presidency in 1860. Two rails from a lot of 
three thousand made in 1830 by Thomas Hanks and Abe Lincoln, whose 
father was the first pioneer of Macon county." Pen would fail to describe 
the efiect on an audience already excited. After the strength of the assembly 
was completely exhausted in cheers, Lincoln was called upon tQ explain the 
matter of the rails, which he did by giving a history of his first work in 
Illinois, helping his father to build a log cabin and split rails to fence in a 
field of corn. It is said of Jackson that he was re-elected because he said, 
" By the eternal, the Union must and shall be preserved." That Harrison 
was elected because of log cabins and hard cider. Taylor, because he said, 
"A little more grape. Captain Bragg." Lincoln, because he was a rail 
splitter, and that Grant was elected and re-elected, because he said, " I pro- 
pose to fight it out on this line if it takes all Summer." These symbols or 
sayings, it is true, had but little to do with the duties or qualifications of those 
who were called to the Presidency. They prove, however, that when the 
people, the masses, take up a point or principle and make it a national watch- 
word, they seldom fail to succeed. 

Soon after Lincoln's nomination these rails were in demand in every 
State in the Union in which free labor was honored, where they were borne 
in processions of the people, and hailed by hundreds of thousands of freemen 
as a symbol of triumph and as a grand vindication of freedom and of the 
rights and dignity of free labor. Some time previous to this the State of 
Massachusetts had amended her constitution, making the naturalization of 
foreigners more difficult, and extended the period of time required. With 
many letters received by Lincoln after his nomination by the Illinois conven- 
tion, was one from Theodore Cauisins, a German citizen of Illinois, of date 
May 17, 1859, inquiring what were his (Lincoln's) views relative to the consti- 
tutional provisions recently adopted in Massachusetts in relation to natural- 



92 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

ized citizens, and whether he favored or opposed a fusion of Repubhcans 
and other opposition elements in the approaching campaign of 1860. 
In reply to this letter Lincoln said: " I have no right to advise the sover- 
eign and independent State of Massachusetts concerning her policy, but so 
far as I understand the provision she has made, I am against its adoption in 
Illinois, and in every other place where I have a right to oppose it. As I 
understand the spirit of our institutions, it is the design to promote the 
elevation of men. I am, therefore, hostile to anything that tends to their 
debasement. It is well known that I deplore the depressed condition of the 
blacks, and it would be very inconsistent for me to look with favor or 
approval upon any measure that infringes upon the inalienable rights of white 
men, whether or not they are born in another land or speak a different 
language from our own." To the inquiry touching the fusion of all opposition 
elements, he said : "I am in favor of it if it can be done on Republican 
principles, and upon no other consideration. A fusion on any other platform 
would be insane and unprincipled. There are good and patriotic statesmen 
in the South, whom I would willingly support if they were placed on Repub- 
lican ground, but I shall oppose the lowering of the Republican standard even 
by a hair's breadth." 

With what broad and catholic sentiments towards adopted citizens does 
Lincoln reply to this letter, characteristic of his principles and his entire life. 
How strong his appreciation of hia- Republican principles and jilatform. He 
felt that it was liberal and broad, on which all could unite and stand who 
desired the elevation of the human race, and the unity and prosperity of their 
common country. Lincoln had now become a representative man, and was 
regarded by the Republican party of the West as their candidate for the 
Presidency. His senatorial contest with Douglas had proven him the people's 
friend, the man of the people, from the people, and the champion of freedom, 
free soil and free labor. His statement that the battle of 1860 was worth a 
hundred of the senatorial contest was now understood and appreciated. The 
result of that contest was now bearing its legitimate fruit. It was marshal- 
ing and uniting the sons of freedom for the great battle for free soil and 
free labor, while the stand taken by Douglas was creating dissension in, 
and threatening the disruption of the Democratic party. 

The movements of the Western Republicans indicated that Lincoln 
would be a prominent candidate for President before the Republican conven- 
tion, and he, during the last of 1859 and first months of I860,, visited several 
portions of the Union and delivered a number of the most remarkable 
speeches of his life. In the last of 1859 Lincoln visited Kansas. He had a 
desire to see the people and State in whose behalf lie had labored so efficiently 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



93 



in his great contest with Douglas. He was received with unbounded 
enthusiasm by the people. He addressed the people at Leavenworth and at 
several other towns. His reception at Leavenworth was grand and magnifi- 
cent. The Leavenworth Register said : " Never did man receive such honors 
at the hands of our people, and never did our people pay lionors to a better 
man, or to one who has been a truer friend to Kansas." The following is a 
paragraph of his speech on that occasion : 

" But you Democrats are for the Union, and you greatly fear that the suc- 
cess of the" Kepublicans would destroy the Union. AVhy ? Do the Repub- 
licans declare against the Union? Nothing like it. Your own statement of 
it is, that if the black Republicans elect a President you won't stand it; 
you will break up the Union. That will be your act, not ours. To justify it 
you must show that our policy gives you just cause for such desperate action. 
Can you do that ? When you attempt it you will find that our policy is exactly 
the policy of the men who made our Union— nothing more, nothing less. 
Do vou reallv think you are justified in breaking up the government rather 
than in having it administered as it was by Washington? If you do, you are 
verv unreasonable, and more reasonable men cannot and will not submit to 
you. While you elect Presidents we submit, and do not attempt to break up 
the Union. If we constitutionally elect a President it will be our duty to see 
that vou also submit. Old John Brown has been executed for treason agamst 
a State. We cannot object even though he agreed with us m thinkmg 
slavery wrong. That cannot excuse violence, bloodshed and treason. It 
could "avail him nothing that he might think himself right. So, if we 
constitutionally elect a President and therefore you undertake to destroy the 
Union, it will be our duty to deal with you as old John Brown has been dealt 
with. We shall try to do our duty. We hope that no section will, as a 
majority, so act as to render such extreme measures necessary." 



CHAPTER XVr. 

NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT, 1860. 

In September, Lincoln was invited to visit the State of Ohio, which he 
did, having been preceded by Douglas ; he addressed large audiences at 
Columbus and Cincinnati. At Columbus his speech was mainly in reply to 
an elaborate article that had appeared in Harper's Magazine, written by 
Douglas. At Cincinnati Douglas delivered a speech in which he discussed 
popular sovereignty and its kindred subjects, Lincoln receiving a share of his 
attention. It was in the main a renewal of the principles involved in the 
senatorial contest in Illinois, and the citizens of Ohio gave them large and 
considerate attention. These speeches were published in full in the leading 
papers of the day. Young Democracy here, as in Illinois, was ranging itself 
on the side of freedom, while the old Democrats still held to the traditions 
and principles of the slave oligarchy. 

In February, 1860, the Young Men's Republican Club of New York city 

invited Lincoln to deliver an address in that city on the important questions 

of the day. The invitation gave Lincoln much satisfaction, as it afforded him 

an opportunity to make the acquaintance of the statesmen and politicians of 

the Eastern States, and to give them and the people a personal exhibition of 

those principles and their illustrations by the young Republican of the West, 

whose recent debates with the little giant of Democracy had created such a 

furor in the Western States. Lincoln accepted the invitation and arrived in 

the city on the 25th of February — Saturday. Arrangements were made, and 

Monday following it was arranged that he should speak that evening in the 

Cooper Institute. The announcement that Lincoln, the antagonist of 

Douglas, and the champion of free soil and free labor of Illinois, was to be the 

speaker of the evening filled the institute; and when he entered, he found 

the platform filled with the Republican leaders of the city and of Brooklyn. 

Lincoln was introduced to the large audience by the venerable Wm. C. 

Bryant, who said : "It is a grateful oHice I perform in introducing to you 

an eminent citizen of the West, hitherto known to you only by reputation." 
94 



OF ABBAHAM LINCOLN. 95 

Standing now in the greatest city of the nation, before and in presence of an 
audience composed of the learned and prominent citizens and politicians of 
the great metropolis, Lincoln felt doubtful of his success. If wanting in 
confidence at first, he soon felt that he had a most attentive and appreciative 
audience. His style of speech was so fresh and unique, and his manner of 
statement so simple, and his illustrations so proper, so appropriate and 
peculiar, that his audience listened with respectful and marked attention and 
wfth an interest which the intense stillness indicated. Lincoln had found an 
audience which gave evadence that they were listening to a speaker who was 
master of his subject. The speech delivered by Lincoln on this occasion 
required much labor in preparation. The historical events mentioned in con- 
nection with the formation of our government, and its records on the ques- 
tion of slavery involved much labor and research, but it was intricate and 
complete. Lincoln was much pleased with Mr. .Bryant's statement in the 
day's Evening Post (of which he was editor) : " That for the publication of 
such words of weight and wisdom as those of Lincoln's, the pages of that 
journal were indefinitely elastic." The papers of the city were full of his 
* address, and with comments upon it the next day. The Western orator was 
a lion. Critics read the speech and were astonished at its pure and compact 
EngKsh and its faultless logic. The speech was, without doubt, the greatest 
speech of Lincoln's life— followed by the audience through all its close and 
pointed reasoning with an interest that the profoundest stillntss indicated, 
which was only broken, at every successful point established, by vociferous 
and hearty applause. Numbers who entered the hall in doubt went away 
with their path of duty bright before them. 

Lincoln remained several days in New York, making many friends, who 
were as much pleased with the man as they had been instructed by his 
speech, and amused and entertained by his peculiar sayings and conver- 
sation. During his stay in the city he received numerous invitations to speak 
in New England, and in response to those invitations he addressed large 
audiences at Hartford, New Haven, Meriden, Norwich and Bridgeport, in 
Connecticut, and at Woonsacket, Rhode Island. Connecticut that year went 
Republican against the most powerful efforts of the Democrats— a result 
which was due more to the speeches of Lincoln than to any other cause. 
After visiting his son Robert, at Harvard College, and many of the principal 
towns of New England, and making the acquaintance of many of her promi- 
nent citizens, he returned to Illinois. The result of this visit to the Eastern 
States was a marvel to Lincoln. He had become familiar with his success in 
his public speaking in the West, but he could not understand the marked 
appreciation with which his addresses were received in the East, particularly 
among the learned and literary men. He had learned one thing at least by 



96 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

this visit, that people of the older States estimate a man by the same rule 
that prevails in the new States — by what he is, and what he does, and not by 
the knowledge he has acquired, the clothes he wears, or the blood that 
courses through his veins. 

Soon after Lincoln returned home from the East, the Democratic conven- 
tion met at Charleston, April 23. Here the Southern members met the 
Northern members of the Democratic party, probably not with the expecta- 
tion of being able to agree on a platform and the selection of a candidate. 
Douglas, with his popular sovereignty, Dred Scott decision and " don't care " 
policy offered them the only ground of union. The Northern men said, 
Douglas is our man. If he has fought the Lecompton fraud and the adminis- 
tration, and made some concessions to freedom in order to save his place in 
the Senate, he will do for us. The South said, " No unfriendly legislation "^ 
should exclude' slavery from the Territories. We must have a man who is 
fairly and squarely a pro-slavery man, with a clean record, and can subscribe 
to no platform that does not accord to us the full rights we claim. We must 
have our property protected everywhere. 

Yancey was the leader of the Southern wing. He anticipated a disruption 
of the convention, and there is no doubt but that he intended there should be, 
and the old Democratic party that ItSkd been victorious on many a battle field 
was rent in twain. ^The Southern members withdrew and formed a " Consti- 
tutional Convention." This convention transacted no important business, 
but adjourned to meet in Richmond in June. The regular convention 
remained in session, and after fifty-seven ballotings, in which Douglas came 
near a nomination, they adjourned, to meet in Baltimore on the 18th of Juue^ 
The Charleston people were highly delighted with the results of the quarrel. 
The smiles of all the beauty of Charleston were bestowed upon Mr. Yancey 
and his party. They regarded this disruption of the party as insuring a pre- 
text for disunion, which they ardently desired. The regular Democratic 
convention at Baltimore nominated Douglas, he insisting that they should 
sacrifice him rather than the party. The antagonism in the Democratic party 
could not be reconciled. The two sections could not agree upon a man or 
platform that would be acceptable to all. The friends of Douglas thought 
that he had deserved better treatment at the hands of the South, and saw in 
the division of their party the ultimate defeat of all their hopes. The Repub- 
lican convention met in Chicago, June 16. The assemby was immense ; the 
large wigwam erected would contain only a fraction of the people. Hon. 
George Ashmun of Massachusetts was chosen to preside over the deliber- 
ations of the convention. The platform of the party was adopted on the 
second day of the convention. It recognized the rights of slavery in the 
States under the constitution. It denounced the maxim that the constitu- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 

tion carried slavery into the Territories and protected it there, and declared 
that the condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom, 
and that a sound policy requires a protective tariff, etc. The i)latform was 
adopted without a dissenting voice, amidst demonstrations of enthusiasm 
which pen would fail to describe. On the meeting of the convention on the 
third day, the different candidates were nominated by their friends. Evarts 
of New York nominated Seward, and Judd of Illinois nominated Lincoln. 
Afterwards, Dayton of New Jersey, Cameron of Pennsylvania, Chase of Ohio, 
Bates of Missouri and McLain of Ohio were formally nominated. The voting 
then commenced. Maine gave nearly half her vote for Lincoln ; New 
Hampshire, seven of her ten for Lincoln ; Massachusetts was divided ; 
Virginia gave fourteen of her twenty-two votes for Lincoln ; Indiana gave her 
twenty-six votes for Lincoln ; New York gave her seventy votes for Seward ; 
thus the voting continued amidst intense interest and until the whole vote was 
cast — 465, necessary to a choice, 233. Seward had 173 Vo ; Lincoln, 102 ; Bates, 
48 ; Cameron, 50)2 '> Chase, 49 ; 42 votes scattering. On the second ballot the 
first gain for Lincoln was from New Hampsliire ; Vermont followed with her 
entire vote ; Pennsylvania followed with her vote of b0}4, which she had given 
to Cameron. On this ballot Lincoln gained 79 votes, receiving 181 ; Seward 
gained 11, receiving 1843o- Then came the third ballot. This was expected 
to be the decisive one, and the friends of Seward were fearful of the result. 
Pencils were in requisition and operation, and before the result was announced 
it was known that Lincoln had received 2S1^4 votes, wanting one and a half 
votes of an election. Carter of Ohio was up in an instant and announced four 
votes of Ohio from Chase to Lincoln ; that decided the contest. The excite- 
ment was now at its extreme tension. Quiet and stillness for a moment 
seemed to prevade the immense asseinbly, and then, like the gathering 
storm which seemed to have augmented its force by its stillness, broke out in 
wild uncontrollable shouts of applause and enthusiasm, which can only be 
described by those present on the occasion. When after a time the conven- 
tion became quiet, the business proceeded. Delegates from Missouri, Iowa, 
Kentucky, Minnesota, Virginia, California, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and 
Oregon insisted on casting unanimous votes for Lincoln before the vote was 
declared. When the vote was declared, Mr. Evarts, on behalf of the New 
York delegation, expressed his regret that Mr. Seward had not been nomi- 
nated, then moved tliat the nomination of Lincoln be made unanimous, which 
was seconded by Andrews of Massachusetts and Carl Schurz of AVisconsin, 
and it was carried. The convention then adjourned and met in the afternoon 
and finished its labors by the nomination of Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for 
Vice-President. The delegation from the State of New York had presented to 
the convention one of the most prominent statesman of the nation. 



98 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Mr. Seward had been in public life thirty years ; his name and fame were as 
well established in the regard of the Republic as the most eminent statesmen 
of the age. He was known as a man of wide experience, of extended influence 
and of great marked ability — known and recognized as such abroad as well as 
at home. That his friends were sadly disappointed at the result can well be 
imagined. During this time, while Chicago was wild with excitement, Lin- 
coln was at home in Springfield in constant telegraphic communications 
with his friends in Chicago. He was apprised of the result of every ballot. 
The moments passing were momentous — big with events. At last, in the 
midst of excitement, intense and painful, a messenger enters the oflBce with 
the decisive dispatch in his hand. It said: " Mr. Lincoln, you are nomi- 
nated on third ballot." He took the telegram and looked at it in silence 
amid the shouts and rejoicing of those around him ; and rising, he said, 
" There is a little woman down at our house who would like to hear this. 
I'll go down and tell her." As soon the news reached Springfield the citizens 
(all of whom had a warm personal regard for Lincoln) responded to the 
nomination with a hundred guns, and during the afternoon thronged his 
house to tender their congratulations and express their joy. 

On the following day, the committee appointed by the convention arrived 
at Springfield to inform Lincoln officially of his nomination. In the evening 
Mr. Ashmun, with the committee and many others, repaired to Lincoln's 
residence. Mr. Ashmum, on being presented, said: "I have the honor, on 
behalf of the gentlemen who are here present — a committee appointed by the 
Republican convention recently assembled at Chicago — to discharge a most 
pleasant duty. We have come, sir, under a vote of instructions to that com- 
mittee, to notify you that you have been selected by the convention of the 
Republicans at Chicago as their candidate for President of the United States. 
I desire to present to you the letter which has been prepared, and which 
informs you of your nomination, and with it the platform, resolutions and 
sentiments which the convention adopted. Sir, at your convenience we. shall 
be glad to receive from you such a response as it may be your pleasure to 
give us." 

Lincoln listened to the address with a seriousness that indicated deep 
thought and the pressure of momentous responsibility, and after a brief pause 
he replied: "Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the committee, I tender to 
you, and through you to the Republican Convention, and all the people rep- 
resented in it, my profoundest thanks for the high honor done me which you 
now formally announce. Deeply and even painfully sensible of the great 
responsibility which is insepara])le from this high honor — a responsibility 
which I could almost wish had fallen upon some one of the far more eminent 



OP ABEAHAM LINCOLN. 99 

and experienced statesmen whose distinguished names were before the con- 
vention — I shall by your leave consider more fully the resolutions of the con- 
vention denominated the platform, and without unnecessary delay report to 
you in writing, not doubting that the i)latform will be found satisfactory and 
the nomination gratefully accepted. And now I will no longer defer the 
pleasure of taking you and each of you by the hand." 

Mr. Ashmun met Lincoln as an old friend, they having acted together in 
Congress while both were members of the Whig party, and the interview 
between them was of special interest. It may be stated as a coincidence 
that Mr. Ashmun, who received Lincoln's first oral and written address as a 
candidate for the Presidency, received the last word he ever wrote as Presi- 
dent of the United States. The evening with the committee and citizens 
passed pleasantly away, and the committee retired with the impression that 
the standard of the party was intrusted in the hands of a great and good man. 
On the following week Lincoln responded to the letter which Mr. Ashmun 
presented him, as follows : " Sir, I accept the nomination tendered me by 
the convention over which you presided, of which I am formally apprised in 
a letter of yourself and others acting as a committee of the convention for 
that purpose. The declaration of principles and sentiment, which accom- 
panies your letter, meets my approval, and it shall be my care not to violate 
it or disregard it in any part. Imploring the aid of Divine Providence, and 
with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented in the 
convention, to the rights of all the States and Territories and people of the 
nation, to the inviolability of the constitution and perpetual union, harmony 
and prosperity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success 
of the principles declared by the convention. Abraham Lincoln." 

"Hon. George Ashmun." 

Lincoln's nomination proved universally acceptable to the Republican 
party. Its members recognized in him a man of firm principles, of ardent 
love for freedom, of strict integritj' and truth, and they went into the political 
contest with a zeal and enthusiasm which was the guarantee of victory and 
success. 

We have in the preceding chapters given briefly an outline of 
Abraham Lincoln's life from his birth up to the positionfof a candidate for 
the highest office and honors in the gift of the American people. Born of 
humble parentage, in poverty and obscurity, early in life gathering his educa- 
tion and knowledge by the hardest labor and toil, from the most limited 
sources, with none of the advantages and assistance afforded by affluence 
and social support, he had achieved the development of his moral and intel- 
lectual powers by the means of his own industry and integrity. With 
principles, early imbibed, of the most correct and humane character, and with 



100 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

a noble goodness never excelled, he had outstripped his compeers in the race 
for honor and fame, and raised himself — one of the people — from the people, by 
the aid of the people, to become the champion and leader of the great national 
party of progress and liberal principles. His mission now was to pilot and 
guide the ship of State through the approaching storm of secession and 
disunion into the haven of perfect unity and universal political liberty and 
equality. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

RESULT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 18G0. 

The Republican party, of which Lincoln was the exponent, declared in 
its platform its purposes to protect the Southern States in all their consti- 
tutional rights, and also asserted the right and duty of Congress to exclude 
slavery from Territories by positive legislation. Mr. Breckenridge, represent- 
ing the pro-slavery element of the Democratic party, asserted the duty of the 
national government by a positive exercise of its legislative and executive 
power to protect slavery in the Territories. Douglas, for the regular Demo- 
crats, supported the principle that the people of the Territories, acting through 
their Territorial Legislatures, or constitutional convention, had the same 
right to decide this question as any other. And Bell, for the fourth party, 
went into the canvass with, " The Constitution, the Union and the enforce- 
ment of the laws," as their platform. This platform was one on which all 
could have united, but for the reason that the widest difference of opinion 
possible prevailed among the people as to its meaning. All the issues involved 
in these several platforms were discussed with energy and vigor, and every- 
thing on the surface indicated the usual termination of the contest-the 
peaceable acquiescence of all parties in the result. The election took place 
November 6th. In the large wigwam erected by the Republicans of Spring- 
field for campaign purposes, the citizens assembled en masse after the closing 
of the polls, to hear the result. The telegraph was brought into requisition. 
The ladies of the city were present in large numbers, having prepared a 
sumptuous repast for all those who would be present. Soon after 9 o'clock 
the telegraph first from Pennsylvania announced to the expectant and waiting 
multitude: " Simon Cameron to A. Lincoln; thirty thousand for Lincoln." 
Next came Indiana, fifteen thousand Republican ; next, Ohio, forty thousand 
for the rail-splitter ; New York next, fifty thousand for Lincoln. Then came 
the announcement, New England sohd for Lincoln; and later, Illinois, fifty 
thousand for her favori-te son. The excitement and enthusiasm manifestetl 
on the receipt of these several dispatches baftles description. These tele- 



102 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

grams having sufficiently indicated the result, the citizens, at a late hour, 
repaired to their homes for rest, after hours of intense excitement and rejoic- 
ing. The result of the election was, that in the electoral college Lincoln 
received 180 (all of the free States except Nev? Jesey, of which he received 
four votes, and Douglas three) ; Breckenridge, 72 (all the slave States except 
Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, which voted for Bell, and Missouri, which 
voted for Douglas). Bell received 39 and Douglas 12 electoral votes. 

As soon as the result of the election was known, various movements in 
the South indicated purposes of resistance. Among the Republicans there 
was this feeling, that they had fairly, on an open declaration of principles and 
policy, and according to the provisions of the constitution, elected a 
President, and if for this the South was going to make war, the con- 
test might come as well first as last. The incipient steps towards 
secession were taken, however, before the election, by the officers of 
the government under President Buchanan. During 1860, 115,000 muskets 
were removed from Northern armories to Southern arsenals by one order. 
The Southern forts were left without efficient garrisons unless com- 
manded by officers who could be relied upon for the South. In the navy 
the efficient vessels were sent into distant waters, and President Buchanan 
had said that the government was powerless to prevent secession. South 
Carolina led off in the secession movement. A convention was called to 
meet December 17. It met at Charleston, and on the twentieth an ordinance 
was passed dissolving the Union then existing between South Carolina and 
the other States under the name of the United States of America. In the 
debates in the convention, Mr. Parker said the movement was "no spas- 
modic effort; it had been gradually culminating for a long series of years." 
Mr. Rhett declared that " the secession of South Carolina was not the event 
of a day; it is a matter which has been gathering head for thirty years." 
Disclosures which have appeared since the rebellion prove clearly that the 
entire secession movement was concocted by conspirators who had their 
headquarters in Washington, and that most of them were holding offices 
under the government of the United States. 

On the night of January 5, 1861, a secret meeting was held, at which the 
Senators from Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi 
and Florida were present. Men bound by all the solemn obligations of honor, 
and their oaths registered to protect, defend and preserve the constitution 
and government of the United States, under which they were holding office 
and receiving their salaries, here met in conclave to destroy what they had 
sworn to protect and defend. They there, by resolution, decided that their 
several States should secede as soon as possible ; that a convention of seced- 



OP ABRAHAH LINCOLN. 103 

ing states should be held at Montgomery, Alabama, not later than the 15th 
of February ; and that the Senators and Members of Congress should and 
ought to remain in their seats as long as possible in order to defeat measures 
that might be proposed at Washington hostile to the secession movement. 
Davis of Mississippi, Slidell of Louisiana and Mallory were appointed a com- 
mittee to carry these resolutions into eflfect; and in pursuance of these, Mis- 
sissippi passed her ordinance of secession January 9 ; Alabama and Florida, 
January 11 ; Louisiana, January 26 ; and Texas, February 5. 

This was a new era in the history of America. Thus were taken the first 
steps to overthrow the government and the constitution of the United States — 
taken from motives of personal and sectional ambition, and for the purpose 
of establishing a government which should be permanently and completely 
in the interest of slavery. The remarks of A. H. Stephens before the Georgia 
Legislature on the 14th of November, 1860, after the result of the Presi- 
dential election was known, are worthy of note here : 

" I look upon this country with our institutions," said Mr. Stephens, " as 
the Eden of the world — the paradise of the universe. It may be that out of 
it we may become greater or more prosperous, but I am candid and sincere in 
telling you that I fear if we rashly evince passion, and without sufficient cause 
shall take that step, that instead of becoming greater or more peaceful, pros- 
perous and happy, instead of becoming gods we will become demons, and at 
.no distant day will commence cutting each others throats. The first question 
that presents itself is, shall the people of the South secede from the Union in 
consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United 
States? My coimtrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly and earnestly, that I 
do not think they ought. In my opinion and judgment, the election of no 
man constitutionally chosen to that high office is a sufficient cause for any 
State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in main- 
taining the constitution of the country. To make a point of resistance to the 
government, to withdraw from it because a man has been constitutionally 
elected puts us in the wrong. We went into this election with this people. 
The result was different from what we wished ; but the election has been 
constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance to the Govern- 
ment and go out of the Union on this account, the record would be made up 
hereafter against us. " 

Here we have the clear and explicit testimony of A. H. Stephens, one of the 
noblest and most patriotic sons of the South, nobly combating for the unity 
of the republic ; standing with and by the constitution of his country, with 
the waves of secession, disunion and rebellion ready to overwhelm him, 
declaring to his countrymen that the grandest and noblest institutions which 



104 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

had been attained in the practical working of our Union should not be madly 
sacrificed and destroyed, when there was no cause or provocation. These 
words of counsel and advice were disregarded by his countrymen, and he 
was borne away by the overwhelming tides of secession which culminated 
February 18, 1861, in tlie inauguration of Jefferson Davis as President and 
A. H. Stephens, Vice-President, of the Southern Confederacy. 

Having briefly referred to events occuring in the Southern States during 
the three months that succeeded the election of President Lincoln, we 
note events that transpired at Washington during the same period. 
Congress met December 3, on the same day the President's message was 
sent in, and the debates and action of Congress during the entire session 
related mainly to the questions at issue between the two sections. The 
Southern Senators generally treated the election of November as having 
been a virtual decision against the rights and equality of the slave 
holding States. The Republican members disavowed this construction, and 
proclaimed their willingless to adopt any just and proper measures which 
would quiet the apprehensions of the South, while they insisted that the 
authority of the constitution should be maintained, and the constitutional 
election of a President should be respected. On the 8th of January the Presi- 
dent sent a message to Congress calling their attention to the condition of 
public affairs, declaring that while he had no right to make aggressive war 
against any State, it was his right and duty to " use military force defensively 
against those who resist the Federal officers in their legal functions, and 
against those who assail the property of the Federal government." 

On the same day, Jacob Thompson^ of Mississippi, resigned his office as 
Secretary of the Interior, because supplies were sent to Fort Sumpter. Pre- 
viously, December 10, Howell Cobb resigned his office as Secretary of the 
Treasury, and on the fourteenth, General Cass resigned as Secretarj^ of State, 
because the President refused to reinforce the forts in Charleston harbor. 
On the twentieth, the state of South Carolina passed her ordinain;e of 
secession. On the twenty-sixth. Major Anderson transferred liis garrison from 
Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumpter. On the twenty-ninth, John B. Floyd 
resigned as Secretarv of War, because the President would not order the return 
of Major Anderson, from Fort Sumpter to Fort Moultrie. During the month 
of January, the Senators from Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi 
resigned their seats in the Senate, and on the fourth of February the Senators 
from Louisiana followed their example. It was during this period, at one of 
the Cabinet meetings, that the Southern members of the Cabinet were boldly 
demanding that the forts at Charleston be evacuated, and the President was 
too weak to take a jiosition against them. It was well that the country at that 
time had one man in tlie Cabinet wlio was not afraid to declare his senti- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 105 

xaents. Edwin M. Stanton, Attorney-General, arose and said: "Mr. Presi- 
•dent, it is my duty as your legal adviser to say that you have no right to give 
up the property of the Govenment, or abandon the soldiers of the United 
States to its enemies ; and the course proposed by the Secretary of the 
Interior, if followed, is treason, and will involve you and all concerned in 
treason " 

For the first time in this Cabinet, treason had been called by its true 
name, and the men who were engaged in it were told to their faces the nature 
of their foul business. Floyd and Thompson, who had previously everything 
their own way, sprang to their feet. Holt, the Postmaster-General, took 
his stand by the side of Stanton ; and thus strengthened by Stanton, the 
President determined not to withdraw Major Anderson. This act of Mr. 
Stanton was a noble introduction to the great work he was destined to 
accomplish in suppressing the rebellion. Silently and effectually had treason 
-worked itself into all the departments of the government. Democracy, as 
jllustrated by President Jackson, who said, " By the eternal, the Union must 
and shall be preserved," found no response in the heart and official meas- 
ures of President Buchanan. The clarion notes of the great expounder 
of the constitution, who in his place in the Senate gave to the nation 
those words, "The Union, now and forever, one and unseparable," which 
thrilled the heart of the nation, had now lost significance and mean- 
ing, and disunion and treason were the prevailing spirits of the last days of a 
Democration administration. Traitors meeting with no opposition from the 
administration, secession had become a reality. Not satisfied with securing 
the forts, arsenals and government buildings in the South, sending our ships 
of war to distant ports, securing the arms and munitions of war belonging 
to the Union, they had so managed the finances of the nation .that the United 
States treasury was bankrupt, and the credit of the government in a measure 
■destroyed. These events, crowding each other in rapid succession, created a 
state of uncertainty and apprehension in the public mind which unsettled 
business, paralyzed all industries, and to every lover of the Union tlie future 
prospect for the country was dark and gloomy in the extreme. The nation's 
capital was seething with treason, secession was rampart, loyalty was at a 
discount, the Union was dishonored and disloyalty was triumphant — and tliis 
was the state of affairs when Lincoln left Springfield for Washington to enter 
upon the duties of the office to which he had been elected. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FKOM SPRINGFIELD TO WASHINGTON — THE INAUGURATION. 

The session of Congress closed March 4th. It was strongly Republican 
in both branches, and had labored in every way consistent with its sense of 
•justice and fidelity to the constitution, to disarm the apprehension of the 
Southern States, and to remove all provocation for their resistance to the 
incoming administration. It had passed resolutions proposing to amend the. 
constitution so as to prevent any interference with slavery in any of the States. 
It had formed Governments for three Territories and passed no law excluding 
slavery from any one of them. It had done all that could be done to make 
the fugitive slave law effective. Those measures had no effect in restraining 
the secession movement in the Southern States. 

On the 18th of February the act of secession had been accomplished ; the 
Confederate Government was organized ; the forts and arsenals of the United 
States in the South were in the hands of the traitors. The arms of the Gov- 
ernment were sent from the North to the South, and the military forces of the 
rebellious States was being organized to enforce the act of secession. From 
the time of his election Lincoln had been silent as to the affairs of the country ; 
to all he carried a calm exterior, but events were transpiring in the nation 
that gave him the most intense anxiety, and filled every leisure moment with 
painful thoughts. With deep interest he had witnessed the development of 
the secession scheme, and, knowing the character of the Southei'n leaders, 
he appreciated the desperate nature of the struggle upon which he was about 
to enter. On the 11th of February he left his home in Springfield and at the 
railroad depot, surrounded by a large assembly of his friends and neighbors, 
he bade them farewell, as follows : 

"My friends, no one, not in my position, can appreciate the sadness I 
feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived 
more than a quarter of a century ; here my children were born, and here one 
of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty 
devolves upon me which is perhaps greater than that which has devolved 
106 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 107 

iipon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have 
succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times 
relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sus- 
tained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; 
and I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine 
assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. 
Again, I bid you all an affectionate farewell." 

This parting address of Lincoln to his friends was telegraphed to every 
part of the Union. So little was his character understood, that his noble and 
earnest request that his neighbors should pray and ask for Divine assistance 
in the discharge of the responsible duties which he was aboiat to assume, was 
by his enemies treated as an evidence of his weakness and imbecility. It 
sounded like cant to ears unaccustomed to the language of piety from the lips 
of politicians, but it came from a heart burdened with a sense of need, and 
strong in its belief that the Ruler of the Universe listens to theprayers of men. 

It has been heretofore stated that Lincoln, since his election, had been 
silent as to his policy, and he now found that he had a difficult task before 
him. He was now to meet daily large assemblages of the people, eager, 
anxious, and expecting to hear from the President-elect as to what would be 
his policy towards the seceded States. This information he did not intend to 
give them until he could do it officially. It may be affirmed that at this time 
he had no policy, except so far as he intended to obey the Constitution and 
save the Union. The first he could do ; the last he could not do without the 
aid and assistance of the people. His course must be shaped and controlled 
by events in the future, and a policy adopted to-day might be changed on the 
morrow. 

His task was now to talk to the people, and still not to talk to them about 
what they most desired to know. His task now, of talking without saying 
anything, was a new one and one for which he had no ability or faculty. He 
had never been able to make a speech without saying something directly to 
the questions in which the people were interested and desired information, 
and now to evade and ignore the expectations and desires of the people was 
the most difficult and perplexing task of his life. To talk when policy and 
duty offered and required was gratifying and easy, but to talk when "silence 
is golden" was inexpedient and to be avoided. Hence the disadvantages 
under which his speeches were delivered during this journey to Washington. 
They were mainly in the character of interrogations or suggestions delivered 
to the people for their thought and reflections rather than the outlining of a 
policy to be adopted or pursued. The addresses were usually short and 
similar in character, and must be passed with few allusions and extracts. 



108 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The first point of destination was Indianapolis. The party found the 
city entirely devoted to the pleasant task of giving their President-elect a 
fitting reception. The next was Cincinnati, where he received a noble greet- 
ing. While here he was called upon by a procession of 2,000 Germans, who 
in their address indicated a desire of some utterance of his policy. In his 
response, Lincoln desired to be excused, saying: " I deem it due to myself 
and the whole country, in the present extraordinary condition of the country 
and public opinion, that I should wait and see the last development of public 
opinion before I give my views or express myself before the time of the inaug- 
uration. I hope at that time to be false to nothing you have been taught to 
expect of me." From Cincinnati the President proceeded to Columbus, 
thence to Cleveland, Pittsburg and Bufi'alo, thence to Albany, where he was 
welcomed by Governor Morgan of New York, to whom he made a brief 
response, and then he was conducted into the presence of the Legislature, 
where he had a. formal reception. At all the cities mentioned the receptions 
were grand and imposing. 

From Albany the President and party proceeded to New York, where the 
reception was such as New York City could give. Philadelphia was next 
reached, where the President was to raise the American flag on the anni- 
versary of Washington's birthday. This day and this duty was alike impressive 
to the President-elect and the citizens assembled. Standing in the hall where 
the Declaration of Independence was signed and declared, where were 
collected the patriotism, the wisdom and the devotion to that principle from 
which sprang our glorious institutions, he resolved anew that its truths and 
principles should be perpetuated and that the labors and resolves of the 
fathers of the Republic should not have been in vain. And as he stepped to 
the platform and raised the star spangled banner, the emblem of our country's 
greatness and our nation's pride, and it floated gracefully in the breeze, he 
recognized the event as auspicious of the future, an omen of hope and trust of 
what was to come. At the conclusion of the ceremonies Lincoln and his party 
left the city for Harrisburg, the capital of the State, and visited both branches 
of the Legislature. 

Before Lincoln left Springfield for Washington, he had intimations that 
plans were devised so that he should not reach the national capital alive ; 
that a conspiracy was in existence, or being formed, to assassinate him as he 
passed through Baltimore. A detective had been sent from Washington, by 
Lincoln's friends, to Baltimore. He soon found that the plot was matured and 
the arrangement was that on Lincoln's arrival in Baltimore, in passing from 
the cars, in his carriage, to the place of reception, on a given signal he should 
be shot by those who should gather around his carriage in the guise of friends, 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 109 

and in the confusion the guilty parties were to escape to a vessel in waiting 
which should convey them to Mobile. These discoveries were communicated 
to Lincoln by the detective at Philadelphia. In the meantime General Scott 
and t^enator Seward, having learned that Lincoln's life would be in danger, 
concurred in sending F. W. Seward forward to Philadelphia, and advised 
Lincoln to proceed to Washington in a quiet way. This was February 21st. 
£)n the 22nd, Lincoln raised the flag on Independence Hall, visited the Legis- 
lature at Harrisburg in the afternoon and in the evening repaired to his hotel, 
it being understood that next morning he would leave with his family and 
party for Washington. He remained in his rooms until 6 o'clock and then 
entered a carriage, with Col. Lemon, and was driven to the railroad where a 
train had been provided. At 10 o'clock they arrived at Philadelphia, were 
met by the detectives, driven in a carriage to the Wilmington and Baltimore 
depot, took a sleeping car and arrived in Washington at 6 o'clock in the mor- 
ning, were met at the depot by Mr. Washburn, taken in a carriage, and in a 
few moments he was talking over his adventures with Senator Seward at 
Willard's hotel. The report that Lincoln passed through Baltimore in dis- 
guise was a pure fabrication. No disguise was necessary. He retired to his 
sleeping berth soon after leaving Philadelphia and occupied it until he ar- 
rived in Washington. The only precaution taken was to cut the telegraph 
wires at Harrisburg at the moment of his departure. Friends and foes were 
thrown into a flurry of excitement by this unexj>ected arrival of Lincoln — the 
former, those who were not in the secret, felt humiliated that their chieftan 
should thus consent to enter the capital ; but soon they learned that he had 
taken the wiser course, and his foes ridiculed his fears. Lincoln now held 
consultation with the Republican leaders, visited the Senate and House of 
Representatives, and upon the following day he was waited upon by the Mayor 
and city officers, who gave him a formal welcome to the city. In his brief 
reply, Lincoln assured the Mayor that he still and always had entertained 
and cherished the most friendly feelings towards the South and her institu- 
tions ; that he had no desire or intention to treat the people of the slave States 
otherwise than as his neighbors, and that he had no intention or desire to 
withhold from them any of tlie benefits and rights of the Constitution. 

On the second evening after his arrival in the city the Republican Asso- 
ciation gave him the compliment of a serenade. Many friends and spectators 
were present. When called upon to respond to the courtesy, he said, " That 
the occasion was fitting for him to say that he came to Washington to assume 
the duties of the office to which he had been called by the people, with no 
feelings but those of kindness and good will to all parts of the Union, and 
that he had no disposition or desire to withhold from any State or its people 



110 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

any of the rights and benefits of the Constitution," and closed with the 
remark, that he thought when better acquainted they would be better friends. 

As the inauguration drew near, many loyal citizens and friends of the 
President elect repaired to Washington. General Scott was active and busy 
in his military preparations for the interesting occasion. Many were the 
forebodings and predictions that scenes of violence and bloodshed would 
occur. It was a state of unrest and of fearful uncertainty. Washington was 
full of traitors, and the leading element was hostile to Lincoln and the princi_ 
pies he represented. Loyal citizens all over the Union looked forward to the 
fourth of March with anxiety. On the day of inauguration the sun rose and 
shone beautifully on the city of Washington. General Scott and the city 
police were px-epared for the occasion. The public buildings, the schools and 
many places of business were closed during the day, and the national flag 
floated in the breeze from every flag staff. Soon after sunrise, Pennsylvania 
avenue was fllled with people, crowding their way to the capitol. At 12 
o'clock Mr. Breckenridge announced the Senate adjourned without day, and 
then conducted Mr. Hamlin to the seat he vacated. At this time the foreign 
diplomats entered the Senate chamber, and took the seats assigned them. 
At 1 o'clock the Judges of the Supreme Court entered, with Chief Justice 
Taney at their head, each saluting the new Vice-President as they took their 
seats. At a quarter past 1 o'clock unusual excitement announced the coming 
of the most important personage of the occasion, the entry of President 
Buchanan and the President elect. A procession was immediately formed 
which proceeded to the i)latform erected at the east end of the capital for the 
ceremonies, in the following oi'der: Marshal of the District of Columbia; 
Judges of the Supreme Court and Sergeant-at-arms ; Senate Committee of 
Arrangements ; President of the United States and President elect, Vice- 
President, Clerk of the Senate, Senators, Diplomatic corps, heads of depart- 
ments. Governors of States, etc. 

On arriving at the platform, when all had been seated. Senator Baker of 
Oregon arose and introduced Mr. Lincoln to the eager and expectant multi- 
tude. Mr. Lincoln then stepped to the front of the platform, and in a clear 
and firm voice delivered his inaugural, which was listened to with silent and 
profound interest and attention, while every passage alluding to the Union 
was vociferously and enthusiastically cheered. The Union sentiments so 
strongly expressed in tlie inaugural, and so warmly api)lauded and indorsed 
by the audience, were the first i)remonition of an uprising of an Union senti- 
mentwhich admonished the assenil)ly that the days of secession in Washington 
were numbered. At the close of tlie delivery of the address, the oath of office 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ill 

was administered by Chief Justice Taney, and tlien Abraliam Lincoln had 
become President of the United States. 

Following is the inaugural address : 

" Fellow Citizens of the United States : In compliance with a custom as 
old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and 
to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the 
United States to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of 
his office. I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss those 
matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excite- 
ment. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States 
that by the accession of a Republican administration their property and their 
peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any 
reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to 
the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is 
found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I 
do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that ' I have no pur- 
pose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the 
States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so ; and I 
have no inclination to do so.' Those that nominated and elected me did 
so with the full knowledge that I made this and many similar declarations, 
and had never recanted them ; and more than this, they placed in the plat- 
form, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and 
emphatic resolution which I now read : 

" Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, 
and especially the rights of each State, to order and control its own domestic 
institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that 
balance of })ower on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric 
depends ; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed forces of the soil 
of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretense, as among the greatest 
of crimes. 

" I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so, I only press upon the 
public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible — 
that the property, peace and security of no section are to be in any way 
endangered by the now incoming administration. I add, too, that all the 
protection which, consistently with the Constitution and laws, can be given, 
will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded for what- 
ever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another. • 

"There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from 
service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Consti- 
tution as any other of its provisions : 



112 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

■' No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof^ 
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, 
be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim 
of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." 

" It is scarcely questioned that this provision, by those that made it, is for 
the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the law 
giver is the law. 

" All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitu- 
tion — to this provision as well as any other. To the proposition then, that 
slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause shall be delivered up, 
their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good 
temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law 
by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath ? 

" There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be 
enforced by national or State authority ; but surely that difierence is not a 
very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little 
consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done ; and should any 
one in any cause be content that this oath shall go unkept on merely unsub- 
stantial controversy as to how it should be kept? 

" Again, in any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of 
liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be so that a free man 
be not, in any case surrendered as a slave ; and might it not be as well at the 
same time to provide by law for the enforcement; of that clause in the Consti- 
tution which guarantees that the citizens of each State sliall be entitled to all 
the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States? 

" I take the ofhcial oath to-day with no mental reservations, and with no 
purpose to construe the constitution or laws bj' any hypercritical rules. 
While I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to- 
be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and 
private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unre- 
pealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having them 
held to be unconstitutional. 

" It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under 
under our national Constitution. During that period fifteen different and 
very distinguished citizens have, in succession, administered the executive 
branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, 
and, generally, with great success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I 
now enter upbn the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years, 
under great and peculiar difiiculties. A disruption of the Federal Union, 
heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in the 
contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 113 

States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the funda- 
mental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no govern- 
ment proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. 
Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution, 
and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it, except 
by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. 

"Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but an asso- 
ciation of States in the nature of a contract only, can it as a contract be 
peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it ? One party to a 
contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does it not require all to 
lawfully rescind it? Descending from these general principles, we find the 
proposition, that in legal contemplation the Union is perj)etual, confirmed 
by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Consti- 
tutition. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It 
was matured and continued in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was 
further matured and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted 
and engaged that it shouldbe perpetual, by the Articles of the Confederation 
in 1778 ; and finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for establishing the 
Constitution was to form a more perfect Union. But if the destruction of the 
Union by one or by a party only of the States be lawfully possible, the 
Union is less than before, the Constitution having lost the vital element of 
perpetuity. It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere 
motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances 
to that effect are legally void ; and that acts of violence within any State 
or States against the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, 
according to circumstances. 

" I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the 
Union is unbroken ; and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the 
Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the United 
States shall be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing, which I deem 
to be only a simple duty on mjj part, I shall perfectly perform it(, so far as is 
practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold 
the requisition, or in some authorative ijieasure direct the contrary. I trust 
this will not be considered as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of 
the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing 
this, there need be no bloodshed or violence ; and there shall be none, unless 
it is forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be 
used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the 
Government, and collect the duties and imports ; but, beyond what may be 
necessary for those objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against 
or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States shall 



114 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

be SO great and so universal as to prevent competent Federal citizens from 
holding office, there wdll be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers upon the 
peoi^le who object. 

' ' While the strict legal right may exist of the government to enforce the 
exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so 
nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it best to forego, for the time, the 
uses of such offices. The mails unless repelled will continue to be furnished 
in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the people everywhere shall 
have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought 
and reflection. 

"The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and 
experience shall show a modification or change to be proper. And in every 
case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to the cir- 
cumstances actually existing, and with a view and hope of a peaceful solu- 
tion of the national troubles and restoration of fraternal sympathies and 
affections. 

"That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy 
the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither 
affirm or deny. But if there be such I need address no word to them. To 
those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak before entering 
upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its 
benefits, its memories and its hopes? Would it not be well to ascertain why 
we do it ? Will you hazard so desperate a step while any portion of the ills 
you fly from have no real existence ? Will you, while the certain ills j^ou fly 
to are greater than all the real ones you fly from — will you risk the commis- 
ion of so fearful a mistake? All profess to be content in the Union if all 
constitutional rights can be inaintained. Is it true, then, that any right 
plainly written in the constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily 
the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of 

doing this. . 

• « 

" Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written pro- 
vision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by mere force of numbers 
a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional 
right, it might in a moral point of view, justify revolution ; it certainly would 
if such riglit were a vital one. But such is not the case. All the vital rights 
of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations 
and negations, guarantees and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that contro- 
versies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed 
with a provision specifically a])]ilica1)le to every question which may occur in 
practical administration. No foresight cart anticipate, nor any document of 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 115 

reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. 
Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or State authorities ? 
The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in 
the Territories ? The Constitution does not expressly say. From questions 
of this nature spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon 
them into majorities and minorities. 

" If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must or the Government 
must cease. There is no alternative for continuing the Government but 
acquiescence on the one side or the other. If a minority in such case will 
secede rather than acquiesce, they in turn make a ])recedent which in turn 
will ruin and divide them ; for a minority of their own will secede from them 
whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such a minority. For 
instance, why not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence 
arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now 
claim to secede from it. All who cherish disunion sentiment are now being 
educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity 
of interests among the States to compose a new Union as to produce harmony 
only, and prevent renewed secession ? Plainlj', the central idea of secession 
is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional 
check and limitation, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of 
popular opinions and sentiments is the only true sovereign of a free people. 
Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unan- 
imity is impossible ; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement is 
wliolly inadmissible ; so that rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or 
despotism in some form is all that is left. 

" I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional ques- 
tions are to be decided by the Supreme Court; nor do I deny that such 
decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit, as to the 
object of that suit ; while they are also entitled to a very high respect and 
consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Govern- 
ment, and while it is obviously. possible that such decision may be erroneous 
in any given case, still the evil effect following it being limited to that partic- 
ular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a ' 
precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could tlie evils of a difler- 
ent practice. At the same time the candid citizen must confess that, if the 
policy of the Government upon the vital question affecting the whole people 
is to be irrevocably fixed by the decisions of the Supreme Court the instant 
they are made, as in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, 
the people will have ceased to be their own masters, unless having to that 
extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent 
tribunal. Nor is there in this view anj' assault \ipon the Court or the Judges. 



116 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEKVICES 

It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought 
before them ; and it is no fault of theirs if otiiers seek to turn their decisions 
to political purposes. One section of our country believes slavery is right 
and ought to be extended ; the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be . 
extended ; and this is the only substantial dispute ; and the fugitive slave clause 
of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are 
each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where 
the moral sense of the people imperfectly support the law itself. The great 
body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few 
break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would 
be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The 
foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, 
without rt^striction, in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only partially 
surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. 

"Physically speaking, we cannot separate; we cannot remove our 
respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between 
them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence and 
bej'ond the reach of each other ; but the diflferent parts of our country cannot 
do this. They, cannot but remain face to face; and intercourse, either 
amicable or hostile must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to 
make that intercourse more advantageous or satisfactory after separation than 
before ? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws ? Can 
treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among 
friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when after 
much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the inden- 
tical questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. 

" This country, with its institutions, belong to the people who inhabit 
it. AVhenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can 
exercise their constitutional right of amending, or their revolutionary right to 
dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many 
worthy patriotic citizens are desirous of having the national Constitution 
amended. While I make no recommendation of amendment, I fully recog- 
nize the full authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised 
in either of the modes prescril)ed in the instrument itself; and I should, 
under the existing circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opi)or- 
tunity being afibrded tlie people to act upon it. 

" I will venture to add, that to me, the convention mode seems preferable, 
in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, 
instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by 
others not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely 
such as they would wish either to accept or refuse. I understand that a pro- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 117 

posed amendment to the constitution (which amendment, however, I have not 
Been) has passed Congress, to the eflfect that the Federal Governiiient shall 
never interfere with the domestic institutions of States, including that of 
persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I 
depart from my pnrpose, not to speak of particular amendments, so far to say 
that, holding such a provision now to be an implied constitutional law, I have 
no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. 

"The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and 
they have conferred none upon him to fix the terras for the separation of 
the States. The people can do this if they choose ; but the executive, as such, 
has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government 
as it comes to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his suc- 
cessor. AVhy should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice 
of the people ? Is there any better or equal hope in the world ? In our 
present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right ? If the 
Almighty Ruler of the nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your 
side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will 
surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal— the American people. 

" By the frame of the Government under which we live, this same people 
have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have, 
with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at 
very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no 
administration, by extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the 
Government in the short space of four years. 

" My countrj-men, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole 
subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. 

" If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which 
you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking 
time ; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now 
dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive 
point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while the new administration 
will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. 

" If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side 
in the dispute, there is still no single reason for precipitate action. Intelli- 
gence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet 
forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way our 
present difficulties. 

" In your hands, my dissatisfied countrymen, and not in mine, is the 
momentous issue of civil war ; the Government will not assail you. You can 



118 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You had no oath 
registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most 
solemn one to ' preserve, protect and defend it.' 

" I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be 
enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds 
of aflfection. 

" The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battle field and 
patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, 
will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they 
will be, by the better angels of our nature." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE GREAT WORK OF LINCOLN'S LIFE — DOUGLAS FOR THE UNION. 

After the ceremony of the inauguration had been concluded, the address 
delivered and the oath of office administered, the President and ex-President 
were escorted to the White House. Mr. Buchanan now retired, the doors of 
the executive mansion were opened and thousands of the loyal citizens of 
the Union called to tender their congratulations. 

In this hour of joy and exultation was the great burden of Lincoln's life 
assumed. Responsibilities grave and momentous now rested on the Presi- 
dent, for the very life and duration of the nation was in peril ; the ordinary 
civil duties of the President dwindled into insignificance in contrast with the 
important labors and duties of saving the nation's life ;^the dismembered 
and disjointed members of our grand and renowned republic must be reunited ; 
it may be after years of toil, anguish and suffering such as no ruler had ever 
endured, and the labors and work must commence on the morrow; the 
exigences would admit of no delay. The first duty of the President was the 
selection of the members for his Cabinet. Wm. H. Seward was tendered and 
accepted the place of Secretary of State ; S. P. Chase of Ohio w'as called as 
Secretary of the Treasurj^ ; Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania was honored as 
Secretary of War, and Edward Bates of Missouri as Attorney-General. These 
men, able and national in their infiuence and standing, were all prominent 
candidates for the Presidency at Chicago, and thus the nation and the 
Republican party was honored by the President in a remarkable degree. 
The Cabinet was completed by the appointment of Wells of Connecticut as 
Secretary of the Navy ; Smith of Indiana as Secretary of the Interior, and 
Blair of Maryland, Postmaster-General. 

The President having selected his Cabinet, was now ready to enter upon 

an important and laborious work — no less than clearing all tlie departments 

of the Government of the men in sympathy with the rebellion. Secession 

and disunion were rampant in every branch — all offices had been filled with 

men in entire sympathy with treason and were so infused with its malignant 

119 



120 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

spirit that no measure could be discussed or adopted by the new administra. 
tion that was not reported to the rebels by some of the clerks or subordinates. 
The places thus held and disgraced were to be filled with loyal men who would 
secure respect for the Government, and who would be faithful to the oaths 
and obligations they had taken. To fill these places was not an easy task, 
but it was done promptly, wisely and effectually. This important duty having 
been performed, the President now took time to look into and fully compre- 
hend the situation. His inaugural address gave satisfaction to the loyal 
people in the free States. Some of the more radical thought there was not 
sufficient positive policy in it, while in the border States its reception was 
considered conciliating and pacific by the Union citizens ; but in those States, 
as elsewhere in the South, the secession leaders and the disloyal press gave 
it the most virulent and hostile denunciation and misrepresentation. But its 
Union sentiments, the conciliatory pacific spirit which it foreshadowed, its 
appeal to the patriotism of the people, its entire absence of aggressive policy 
fell like a withering incubus upon the policy and leaders of the rebellion. It 
was so much at variance with what they had been telling and teaching their 
people, that some new policy must be adopted. How this new policy was 
inaugurated and its principles promulgated and the returning Union senti- 
ment smothered and destroyed, will be understood by giving the statements 
made by Jeremiah Clemens, formerly United States Senator from Alabama, 
at a Union meeting held at Huntville, Alabama, March 13, 1861. He said : 
"I was in Montgomery and called upon President Davis. Mumminger, 
Leroy Pope, Walker, Gilchrist and others were present. As I entered, the 
conversation ceased. The conversation was evidently about taking Fort 
Sumpter. Two or three of the parties withdrew to a corner of the room. I 
heard Gilchrist say to the Secretary of War : ' It must be done ; delay two 
months and Alabama stays in the Union. You must sprinkle blood in the 
face of the people.'" The sprinkle was made at Fort Sumpter, then came 
showers, then torrents of blood, deluging our peaceful land. 

During the lull in the national affairs after the inauguration the President 
was not idle ; he was engaged in the most exhaustive labors ; he found 
the treasury bankrupt ; money must be provided for the support of the Govern- 
ment, and the credit of the nation must be restored. The arsenals of the 
loyal States were rifled; arms and munitions of war must be manufactured 
and i)rovi(led for defense, our vessels of war must be called home, our Govern- 
ment must be represented abroad by men of loyal sentiment and feeling, and 
influences must be brought to bear which would secure respect for the 
Government and a true and correct understanding of the controversy between 
the loyal and disloyal States. 



OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 121 

The rebel confederacy now found that it must make progress or fail, 
and on the 12th of March two commissioners — Forsyth of Alabama and 
Crawford of Georgia — were sent and presented themselves at the State 
department at Washington, stating that they were duly authorized to conclude 
a treaty with the United States. They knew, of course, that they would not 
be received as such, and they knew also that they ought to be arrested for 
treason; but they had ascertained that the President was a merciful man, 
and there was great forbearance in his nature. The President sent them a copy 
of his inaugural for them to study, and they lingered about Washington 
unmolested, learning what they could and in daily communication with the 
secessionists, until the 8th of April, when they returned to the rebel con- 
federacy and reported that they had exhausted all peaceful measures for the 
adjustment of the difficulties. 

On the 8th of April an authorized messenger from President Lincoln 
informed General Beauregard and Governor Pickens of South Carolina that 
provisions would be sent to Fort Sumpter peaceably or otherwise. General 
Beauregard immediately telegraphed to L. T. Walker, rebel Secretary of 
War at Montgomery. The reply was: "Demand the immediate surrender 
of Fort Sumpter," which demand was made by General Beauregard, who 
was at once informed by Major Anderson that his sense of honor and his 
obligation to his Government forbid his compliance. On the night of the same 
day General Beauregard wrote to Major Anderson that if he would state the 
time at which he would evacuate Fort Sumpter, " We will abstain from 
opening lire upon you." At half-past 2 o'clock in the morning Major Ander- 
son replied that, " He would evacuate the fort at noon on the 15th, unless he 
should receive supplies or controlling instructions from his government." In 
reply to this note he was notified at half-past 3 o'clock that fire would be 
opened by the rebel batteries in one hour from that time. Beauregard, true 
to his notice, at half-past 4 o'clock, a. m., opened with his batteries on the 
fort. After sustaining a long and terrific bombardment of thirty-three hours 
and a gallant but feeble defense by a small and famished garrison. Major 
Anderson was compelled to lower his country's flag and surrender the fort 
into rebel hands. 

Thus, April 12, 1861, was the commencement of the civil war, and this 
act was consumated April 14 by an insult to the national flag, such as the 
country had never witnessed. The star spangled banner, the glorious 
emblem of our country's unity and greatness, honored at home and respected 
abroad, was lowered to traitors and disgraced by rebel hands. It was a 
national humiliation, but it was the birth of loyalty, the resurrection of 
patriotism; it lighted the fires of liberty, unity and love of country at every 
hearthstone and in every hamlet; it was a sudden, a universal uprising of 



122 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the people ; patriotic impulses and feelings united all in thought, purpose and 
determination that the national insult must be avenged. 

Fort Sumpter was surrendered and evacuated by Major Anderson on the 
14tli of April, 1861. The time for action the President felt and realized had 
arrived. On the 15th of April he issued a proclamation calling upon the 
loyal States for seventy-five thousand men to protect the national capital and 
suppress such combinations as had been made to resist the enforcement of 
the laws of the United States ; also for both Houses of Congress to assemble 
at Washington on the 4th of July. The men of the nation were taking sides 
for or against the Union. Bell and Breckenridge went with the Southern 
confederacy, while Douglas gave his influence and voice for the Union. On 
Sunday, the 14th of April, the people were wild with excitement under the 
effect of the news of the fall of Fort Sumpter. The secessionists were 
jubilant, loyal men sad and indignant, churches were forsaken, and the 
opening of the war was the only topic of thought and conversation. 

The President's proclamation calling for volunteers was written on Satur- 
day, the loth of April. On Sunday a number of the prominent Union men 
called at the Executive Mansion to confer with the President relative to the 
important crisis. The President was uneasy and solicitous. Would he have 
an earnest and patriotic response to his call ? Would the citizens of the free 
States rise up en masse to maintain the integrity and perpetuity of our republic, 
and would the President have the support and co-operation of the Democratic 
party in the North in his policy for the unity and perpetuity of the national 
Government? These were important questions and were freely canvassed. 
The President was anxious to secure the support and co-operation of Senator 
Douglas in his measures for the suppression of the rebellion. This he desired ; 
and this only he expected. The President felt that could the Senator be induced 
to give some public declaration to accompany his proclamation, in which the 
Senator would sustain the President in his efforts to preserve the Union, it 
would be a tower of strength for the cause of the Union. It was understood 
that Hon. George Ashmun of Massachusetts, late President of the Chicago 
Convention, and a personal friend of Senator Douglas, would call on him that 
evening and obtain from the Senator a public dtclaration that he would sup- 
port the Government in its efforts to preserve the Union. Mr. Ashmun found 
the Senator engaged with a number of friends discussing the situation of the 
national affairs. They soon retired, and then for a time Mr. Ashmun dis- 
cussed with the Senator the emergency of the nation's affairs, and urged that 
a public declaration of the Senator's views and sentiments as to the stand and 
position the administration should take, would give much strength and 
encouragement to the friends of the Union. The replies of the Senator were no^ 
favorable to the arguments of Mr. Ashmun, who urged liini to go to the President 



OF ABRAHAM I.IXCOLN. 123 

and assure him that he would support and sustain him in all necessary measures 
which the immediate wants of the country and the pressing necessities of the 
situation demanded. The Senator said : " Mr. Lincoln has dealt hardly with 
me in removing some of my friends from office, and I don't know that he 
wants my advice or assistance." Mr. Ashmun replied that the present 
question and the situation of the country was above all party consideration, 
and that the Senator had now the power and opportunity to render such a 
service to his country as would not only give him a claim and title to its lasting 
gratitude, but would show that in the hour of his country's extremity and 
need he could trample all party considerations and resentments under foot ; 
and, said he, "I may say that thousands of your friends are now awaiting 
your public action in accord with the administration on this question, to take 
sides for the Union." Mrs. Douglas, who was present during this interview, 
arose at this juncture and walked across the room, and laying her hand 
tenderly on the shoulder of the Senator, in her kind and affectionate way, 
said: "I am sure, Stephen, in this matter you can and will lay aside all 
party and personal feelings, and that you will go with Mr. Ashmun to the 
President and tell him fi-ankly that in his efforts to save our Union he shall 
have your earnest support." These words of an earnest and tender wife were 
not spoken in vain ; he could not withstand that better nature to which they 
had appealed. He arose and said to Mr. Ashmun that he would accompany 
him to see the President. They found Mr. Lincoln alone, and he gave them 
a most cordial welcome. Now for the first time in life were the two great 
champions of the two great parties united in purpose and heart. After some 
conversation relative to the present condition of the country, the President 
took up his proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand men, which he 
would issue the next day, and read it. When he had finished, Mr. Douglas 
arose from his seat and said, " Mr. President, I cordially concur in every word 
of that document, except that instead of seventy-five thousand, I would make it 
two hundred thousand ; you do not know the dishonest purposes of these men 
as well as I do." He then pointed out to the Pre.sident, on a map hanging in 
the room, the principal points that should at once be occupied. Among the 
most prominent were Fortress Monroe, Washington, Harper's Ferry and 
Cairo. He then insisted that a firm, energetic course should be pursued 
until the stability of the Li^nion should be secured and the national honor 
vindicated. " Let there be," he said, " no concession to treason — no compro- 
mise with traitors." The President, with a burden lifted from his shoulders, 
listened with interest and pleasure to the Senator's counsel and suggestions, 
and the interview closed with a perfect unity in a patriotic purpose. Mr. 
Douglas said, before leaving the President, that he would write an account of 
the interview to accompany the President's proclamation. It was as follows : 



124 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

" Mr. Douglas called on the President this evening and had an interesting 
conversation on the present condition of the country. The substance of the 
conversation was that while Mr. Douglas unalterably opposed the admin- 
istration in all its political issues, he was prepared to sustain the President in 
the exercise of his constitutional functions to preserve the Union, maintain 
the Government and defend the Federal capital. A firm policy and prompt 
action were necessary. The capital of our nation was in danger and must be 
defended at all hazards, at any expense of men and money. He spoke of the 
present and future without reference to the past." 

These patriotic utterances of Senator Douglas were exemplified in his 
devotion to the cause of his country during the brief remainder of his life. 
In a few days after his interview with the President he was on his way home 
to Illinois. His address to his countrymen on the route, before the Legis- 
lature of Illinois and before his fellow citizens at Chicago, were listened to 
with great attention. As the enthusiastic patriot speaks, party fealty and 
party policy were ignored, while unity and the Union were the watchwords. 
In May he was taken sick, and died June 3. His last words were a wish for 
the honor and prosperity of his country through the defeat and dispersion of 
its enemies. The death of Senator Douglas was a national calamity, and the 
President regarded and fully realized it as such. 

The patriotic stand taken by Senator Douglas for the Union carried with 
it the loyal Democratic element, the influences of which may be estimated 
when we recollect that in the popular vote Douglas received 1,365,976 votes, 
and Breckenridge and Bell received 1,488,584 votes. He uttered many 
patriotic sentiments after his interview with the President, among which was 
this one, in one of the last letters he ever wrote : " We should never forget 
that a man cannot be a true Democrat unless he is a true and loyal patriot." 
These and similar sentiments uttered by the great champion of Democracy 
were received and treasured up as precious legacies by his followers, and on 
the call of the President for men to defend the national capital and assert the 
supremacy of the laws of the nation, they rushed to the rescue, vieing with 
their Republican opponents in their devotion to the Union and the perpetuity 
of the republic. 

It is a pleasure to say that during the dark and bloody days of the 
rebellion, in the hospitals, filled with our wounded and dying soldiers, was 
seen Mrs. Douglas, in her weeds of mourning, in acts of love and mercy 
ministering to the wants and sufferings of the Union soldiers — nor were the 
boys in gray passed by or forgotten in her labors of mercy and patriotism. 



CHAPTER XX. 

UPRISING OF PATRIOTISM — OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS. 

The issue of the President's proclamation created tlie utmost enthusiasm 
throughout the country. It was a sublime spectacle to see a people thus 
united in thought and purpose, and to realize that underneath all divisions of 
party and sect there was a love of country which made us united, and that 
would hold us united as a nation and a republic. The President's action was 
timely, as it was necessary. The loyal citizens everywhere realized and fully- 
comprehended that the great struggle of slavery for supremacy was now at 
hand. " Better it should be settled by us, and now, than by our children," 
was the loyal cry and feeling everywhere. 

In the midst of the loyal enthusiam there was not an entire unanimity of 

opinion as to the measures and methods that should be pursued to suppress 

the rebellion. There were many who said the President should have called for 

two or three hundred thousand men and crushed out the rebellion at once. 

Those men seemed to have forgotten that a Democratic administration had 

left the Government in a helpless condition — loyal hands and hearts were 

willing, but the rebels had secured most of the arms of the Government, and 

that in the loyal States there was only sufficient to arm those called for in the 

proclamation. The outgoing administration had left the Treasury bankrupt^ 

which made it necessary that credit should be established and funds provided 

before large bodies of troops could be organized and provided for. There 

were questions of public policy which must be considered. The President's 

policy was defensive, not aggressive. Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina. 

and Arkansas were still in the Union, and the President's call was for men 

"to protect the capital, and suppress such comlnnations as had been made to 

resist the enforcements of the laws of the United States." Massachusetts 

was the first to respond to the President's call. Within twenty-four hours 

after the issue of his proclamation her sixth regiment, fully equipped, started 

for the national capital; two more regiments took their departure within 

forty-eight hours. The sixth, on its way to Washington, on the 19th of April 

was attacked in Baltimore by a mob bearing a secession flag, and a number of 

125 



p 126 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

its members were killed and wounded. This insane and unnatural act of the 
the secessionists of Baltimore added still more to the wrath and indignation 
of the Union citizens. The loyal citizens of the Union felt outraged that the 
national troops should be assailed and murdered on their way to defend and 
protect the capital of the nation. General Hicks of Maryland occupied a very 
difficult position — he was a Bell and Everett man, "and for the Union." His 
people threatened him, and he was vacillating. They would have no more 
troops pass through Baltimore. He applied to the President for relief in bis 
emergency. The President assured him that the Government must have 
troops for the protection of the capital, but that for the present the troops 
would avoid Baltimore and come by the way of Annapolis. 

The rebels had anticipated the secession of Maryland, and at the outbreak 
of the rebellion a majority of its citizens were disloyal, but they were lield 
by a controlling Union sentiment which became predominant, until before 
the close of the war her citizens declared for emancipation and abolished 
slavery. Four days after the President's call for troops, he issued a procla- 
mation declaring a blockade of the ports of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. This call for troops and the 
establishment of a blockade were the preliminaries of the most remarkable 
and closely contested war that is recorded in the history of the human race — 
a contest which, for the number of men engaged, the extent of country 
traversed, of coast line blockaded, amount of war material consumed and 
results achieved, has no parallel in the history of the world. The attitude of 
the North and South at this period presented a strong contrast. On one side 
was rampant treason and a policy of aggressive war already inaugurated ; on the 
other, patient forbearance and the most considerate care not to take any step 
not absolutely necessary to the security of the indispensable rights of the 
Government. Loyal men could find no fault with the President for claiming 
too much, or being harsh with those " erring sisters " who it was thought by 
some might yet be led back to their allegiance. The call by the President 
for troops to defend the capital of the nation was a little too much for the 
" mother of Presidents," so on the 17th of April Virginia went out from the 
Union, as far as she could, by a convention vote of eighty-eight to fifty-five ; 
and on the 2l8t of May the Confederate Government was transferred to 
Richmond, and the sacred soil of Virginia from that time was to be devoted 
to battlefields, fortifications, military camps and untimely graves. North 
Carolina and Arkansas soon followed. Tennessee made the attempt with 
partial success. Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri remained 
faithful to the Union. With the disloyalty of Virginia and the removal of 
the rebel capital to Richmond, went the last lingei'ing hope of the President 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 127 

that intestine war could be averted, and that coercive measures would not be 
necessarj' to preserve the integrity of the Union. 

On the 29th of April the Confederate Congress met at Montgomery, when 
President Davis sent that body a message which was intended to be a justi- 
fication of himself and the rebel cause before the country and the world. It 
was a document plausible in his theory of State rights, and presented the 
Southern doctrine of secession in its most favorable light. Mr. Davis held 
that the States were sovereign, and the United States essentially subject, 
therefore when any State had a plausible pretext for dissolving its union with 
the other States, it had a right to do so. Mr. Lincoln maintained and upheld 
the principle that the Union was sovereign and indivisible, and the States 
subject, and that any attempt of individuals to dissolve and destroy the 
Union by or through a combination of a State or States, was treason. 

The approach of the rebel forces towards Washington rendered it neces- 
.sary that President Lincoln should take offensive operations. On the 3d 
of May he issued a call for forty-two thousand volunteers to serve for three 
years ; twenty-two thousand for the regular army, and eighteen thousand for 
the navy. A quick response was made, and the demand for volunteers was 
soon answered in excess. On the 27th of April the blockade was extended to 
include the States of Virginia and North Carolina. One of the first and most 
important duties of the President after the selection of his cabinet, was to 
define the position that would be assumed by our Government towards 
foreign nations on questions that might arise relative to the rebellion. 
Secretary Seward, in his letter of instructions to our minister at the court of 
St. James (Mr. Adams), under date of April 10, very distinctly defined the 
attitude the President intended to pursue. [The limit of these pages precludes 
an entry of any considerable length on this subject; a brief extract from Mr. 
Seward's letter must suffice, and will show the position of our Government.] 
Mr. Seward said : "If, as the President does not at all apprehend, you shall 
unhappily find Her Majesty's Government tolerating the application of the 
so-called seceding States for recognition, or wavering about it, you will not 
leave them for a moment in doubt or to suppose that^they can grant that 
application and remain friends of the United States. You may assure them 
promptly in that case that if they determine to recognize they may at the 
same time prepare to enter into an alliance with the enemies of this republic. 
You alone will represent your country at London, and you will represent the 
whole of it there. When you are asked to divide that duty with others, 
-diplomatic relations between the Government of Great Britain and this 
Government will be suspended, and will remain so until it shall be seen which 
of the two is most strongly intrenched in the confidence of their respective 
nations or of mankind." 



128 J^IFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The firm and decided stand iaken by the President in the instructions of 
Secretary tSeward to Minister Adams, prevented the rebel Government fromi 
receiving a full recognition from the British Government, which President 
Davis expected and desired. Our Ministers at the Court of France and at all 
the Foreign courts received similar instructions. The Court party and 
aristocracy of Great Britain were, and long had been, jealous of the growth 
and rising power and prosperity of the United States. This disruption of the 
republic was looked upon Vjy them with favor, and the cry of the South that 
" cotton is king," and the promises and inducement held out to them by the 
Southern confederacy was that on their recognition their factories and looms 
would be supplied with that article on much better terms than from the 
United States. These representations and promises created a strong party 
in Great Britain, whose sympathies in the first years of the war were with 
the South. The firm, positive stand taken by our Government, and the 
strong anti-slavery sentiment of a large portion of the English people held 
their Government ostensibly on the side of freedom. And still, notwithstand- 
ing their professions of neutrality, they indirectly gave aid and comfort to the 
rebels, for which in after years they Avere called to an account by our Govern- 
ment, and for their actions and conduct they paid justly and dearly. France, 
by her recognition of the belligerent rights of the Confederate States, evinced 
her sympathy for the rebels, but her embroglio with Mexico and the firm 
position of our Government restrained her Government from giving aid directly 
to the enemy. Spain continued friendly. Her possessions near the South 
and the fiUibusteriug experience she formerly had with her neighbors 
rendered her indifferent to the appeals of the rebels for aid. Russia and 
Germany, old friends, remained true and faithful to the Union. 

Called by the President, Congress met July 4, 1861. The Republicans had 
fourteen majority in the Senate, and seventy-two majority in the House, and 
of the opposition, five Senators and twenty-eiglit members supported the Presi- 
dent to preserve the Union. The President in his first message to Congress 
first made a statement of the rebellion and its progress from its commencement 
up to the period of his communication to that body. The doctrine of State 
rights. State sovereignty, the right of secession, was reviewed and dwelt upon 
at length, and was intended as a reply to the message of Mr. Davis, and to 
place before the people of the United States, and before the world whose 
Governments and people were sitting in judgment on the case, the reasons 
for and the grounds of the national struggle for the suppression of the 
rebellion. The President recommended that Cong ess make the contest a 
short and decisive one, by placing at .the control of the Government 400,000 
men and $400,000,000, stating tliat a right result at the right time would be 
worth more to the world and nation than ten times that number of men and 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 129 

amount of money. Congress was willing to do more than the President asked 
for or even desired. They voted five hundred millions of money and author- 
ized him to call out half a million of men. The financial recommendations 
of Secretary Chase were adopted and a nioderate confiscation act was passed. 
Congress also legalized all measures taken by the President for tlie suppres- 
sion of the rebellion, and labored in all waj'S to strengthen his hands and 
encourage, his heart. A resolution offered by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky, 
which was adopted, asserting that the war was forced ujion the country by 
the disunionists of the South ; that Congress, with no feeling of resentment, 
would only recollect its duty to the whole country ; that the war is not waged 
in the spirt of oppression or subjugation or of interfering with the established 
institutions, but to defend and inaintain the Constitution and preserve the 
Union with all the equality and rights of all the States unimpaired, and that 
as soon as these objects were accomplished the war would cease. This reso- 
lution was adopted with only two dissenting votes. It was received with 
favor by the loyal citizens of the border States, but with the rebels it was 
like pouring water on a red-hot iron — a hiss only was returned. 

To the disinterested observer it would seem that the apothegm, " Whom 
the Gods will to destroy, they first make mad," would apply with peculiar 
force and significance to the leaders of the rebel conspiracy. They were now 
standing before the world and in the light of history witliout a reasonable 
excuse or apology that would be received as a justification or a vindication 
before an impartial tribunal. The President, by his christian forbearance, by 
his acts as well as his words, had said to the reVjels : " The Government will 
not assail you." From the time he uttered those words and took his solemn 
oatli to preserve, protect and defend the Coftstitution and Government, his 
words and actions had been pacific. He claimed only that the Union of the 
States must be preserved and tliat the laws must be respected and observed, 
and if a war came to secure this, upon tlie conspirators and leaders of the 
rebellion must rest the responsibility for a civil war, with all the terrible 
train of violence, sorrow and suffering, and the devastation of country and 
homes which would follow in a war thus inaugurated. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CALIFORNIA LOYALTY TO THE UNION. 

The position tiiat California would take in the great national struggle for 
the perpetuity of the Union was to the President, at the outbreak of the 
rebellion, a matter of much anxiety and solicitude. How far the insidious 
and seductive proposals of a Pacific republic, or the more unnatural project 
of a Southern confederation for the propogation of slavery would lead her 
citizens had j^et to be demonstrated. The vote at the Presidential election 
being nearly equallj^ divided between the three great parties rendered the 
question a matter of some uncertainty. That there was a strong party 
in the State hostile to the administration and in sympathy with the South 
and the rebellion, was as well known at Washington as in the Golden State. 
And it was also well known that the leaders of that party were in favor of 
disunion, and were taking measures to carry into effect their nefarious designs 
in that direction. The loyal citizens fully realized the condition of affairs. 
They were also apprized that the chief officer of the Federal troops in com- 
mand on the Pacific Coast was in full sympatlw with the seditious sentiments. 
The President was early apprized of the disloyal sentiments of the command- 
ing officer, and measures were at once taken to relieve him, and place the 
department in charge of one whose loyalty to the Union was known and 
undoubted. 

Early in March, General Sumner, under instructions from the war depart- 
ment, was ordered to proceed at once by steamer to San Francisco, and imme- 
diately on his arrival there, to relieve A. S. Johnson of his command of the 
department of the Pacific. The sudden arrival of the old general and the 
prompt and abrupt discharge of his orders was at the time a subject of much 
comment. The loyal citizens were elated and jubilant, while the disloyal 
were equally silent and despondent. General Johnson was ordered to report 
at the headquarters of the military department at Washington, but he chose 
rather to resign his commission in tlie army, which he did in Maj^ and made 

his way through the wilderness of Arizona and New Mexico to join the 
130 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 131 

Southern confederacy ; and in April, 1862, he fell mortally wounded in the 
battle of Shiloli. The fires of patriotism which had been fanned to a flame in 
the Atlantic States by the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumpter, 
were burning brilliantly and lighting up the valleys and plains of the 
Golden State. The Union party in California was gathering strength every 
day. The Douglas Democrats, following the example of their illustrious and 
patriotic leader, were taking sides for the Union, the Constitution and the 
enforcement of the laws, and all were anxiously awaiting the State election 
which was to take place in September. The State was fully canvassed, and 
the result was that Leland Stanford, Republican candidate for Governor, 
received 55,935 votes ; John Conness, Union Democrat, received 30,954 votes, 
and J. R. McConnell, secessionist, 32,782 votes. A Legislature was elected 
nearly Union, as will be seen by the vote for Speaker of the House and for 
President of the Senate pro tern. A short extract from Governor Stanford's 
inaugural will indicate the Union sentiment in the State at that period. He 
said : " Every citizen of California must remember his duty, and in remem- 
bering discharge it faithfully. Our fellow citizens are now in tlie field armed 
against traitors and treason, and for the preservation of the Union and 
the national Government. The whole power of the State should, if necessary, 
be wielded to encourage, support and sustain their patriotic citizens and their 
compatriots. Let treason meet a just and speedy punishment, and may we 
soon, as I doubt not we shall, see peace restored to our beloved Union, our 
institutions more firmly implanted than ever, and sustained by a national 
sentiment that shall pervade every section of our country." The members of 
the Legislature elected at the election before mentioned, and the succeeding 
one, fully represented the Union sentiment in California. The Union 
Democracy represented by Conness of El Dorado, Higby of Calaveras, 
Shannon of Plumas, McNabb of Sonoma, Hill of Santa Barbara and others 
equally loyal to the Union, with the Republicans, February 10, 1863, elected 
Hon. John Conness United States Senator, he receiving ninety-eight votes; 
opposition sixteen votes. 

This wonderful uprising of the people of California in favor of the Union 
and the enforcement of the laws of the nation was a subject of exultation and 
gladness in the loyal States. At the outbreak of the rebellion loyalty was a 
latent, not an active sentiment in California. Separated from the Atlantic 
States by magnificent distances and by barriers almost insurmountable, the 
people on the Pacific shore were in a measure, isolated from their Eastern 
friends, unacquainted with the immediate causes, and had comparatively a 
limited knowledge of the questions which in the Eastern States so stirred the 
public mind. The admission of California into the Union as a free State had 
settled at once and for all time the question of slavery on the shores of the 



132 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Pacific ; and consequently, the people felt less interest in the extension of 
slavery than was manifested by the people of the Western •and Atlantic 
States. In this apparent want of iftterest and concern in that question, para- 
mount to all others, the people were not wanting in their devotion to the 
Union, their reverence for the laws and their veneration for the old flag, the 
national emblem of our country's grandeur and greatness. When the Union 
was menaced, the flag dishonored and the laws of the nation violated and 
disregarded, there came a burst of patriotic resentment and love of country 
which made us an undivided nation. The people were being moved and their 
patriotism stirred by the loyal eloquence of freedom's champion, Colonel 
E. D. Baker. From one of his many speeches delivered to interested multi- 
tudes in California, we give an extract, a tribute to freedom. He said : 
" Here, then, long years ago I took my stand for freedom, and where in my 
youth my feet were planted, there my manhood and my age shall march ; and 
for one, I am not ashamed of freedom, I know her power. I rejoice in her 
majesty. I walk beneath her banner. I glory in her strength. I have seen 
her again and again struck down on a hundred chosen battlefields. I have 
seen her friends fly from her. I have seen her foes gather around her. I 
have seen them bind her to the stake. I have seen them give her ashes to 
the winds, regathering them again that they might scatter them more widely. 
But when they turned to exult, I have seen her meet them face to face, clad 
in complete arinor of steel and brandishing in her strong right hand a flaming 
sword, red with unsufFerable light; and therefore, I take courage in the 
thought that the people have gathered around her once more. The genuis of 
America will at last lead her sons to freedom." This extract is from his last 
speech in California, delivered while on his way from Oregon to Washington 
to battle in the Senate, and to lead the brave sons of New York on the battle- 
field in defense of freedom which he had so beautifully eulogized. 

Again, at a Union mass meeting held in New York, he said: " And if, 
from the far Pacific, a voice feeV^ler than the feeblest murmur upon its shores 
may be heard to give you encouragement and hope in the contest, that voice 
is yours to-day. And if a man, whose hair is gray, who is well worn out in 
the battle of life, may pledge himself on such an occasion as this and before 
such an audience, let me say as my last word, that when amid sheeted fire 
and flame I saw and led the hosts of New York (at the battle of Cerro Gordo) 
as they charged in contest uppn a foreign soil for the honor of your flag, so 
again, if Providence shall will it, these feeble hands shall draw a sword never 
yet dishonored — not to fight for distant honor in a foreign land — but to fight for 
country, home, for law, for Government, for Constitution, for right, for freedom, 
for humanity, and in hope that the banner of my country may advance, and 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 133 

wheresoever that banner waves tliere glorj^ may i)nrsue and freedom be 
estabhshed." These thrilHng words of patriotic eloquence of the "(xray Eagle 
of Republicanism" (a title earned and given in California) will long be 
remembered by those that heard them. 

Three months from that time, at the head of his regiment raised in New 
York city, he fell in the battle of Ball's Bluff in the defense of freedom, and 
that flag and country which had honored him so higbly and which he loved 
so well. On the death of Senator Baker, President Lincoln suffered keenly 
and deeply, as he was an intimate and valued friend. The President said : 
" The keenest blow of all the war was at an early stage, when the disaster of 
Ball's Bluff and the death of his beloved Baker smote him like a whirlwind 
from the desert." He who had so eloquently and loyally represented the 
Union party and sentiment on the Pacific Coast was borne back on " his 
shield " to the Pacific shore, his home and the land of his adoption, and the 
people he loved so well. And as the impressive furneral cortege of the 
gallant soldier and statesman passed through the silent and solemn streets 
of San Francisco to Lone Mountain cemetery, the mournful stillness, the 
solemn sternness which rested on the people indicated the causes which had 
produced this sorrowful occasion, and told how deeply his memory and the 
principles for which he gave his life were enshrined in their hearts. 

The fires of patriotism and freedom were burning brightly on California's 
golden shores, when the apostle and advocate of liberty and humanity, Starr 
King, whose eloquence fanned into a flame more bright and effulgent the 
loyal patriotic sentiments of the people as they had never been stirred 
before. He visited different parts of the State, and before large, attentive 
and interested audiences he kindled anew the fires of patriotism in all places 
he visited by his patriotic eloquence and unanswerable arguments. He 
labored with all the energy and powers of his great humane and comprehen- 
sive mind for the unity of the republic and the maintenance of its laws. 
His labors in the cause of the United States sanitary commission were equally 
earnest and effective. He considered it the most humane and most magnifi- 
cant scheme of charity the world had ever known, and efficiently labored to 
advance and promote its success and interests. Here was the opportunity by 
which the loyal citizens manifested their devotion and love for their country. 
Long will be remembered his patriotic and eloquent speeches in Piatt's Hall, 
San Francisco, and in other places in the State in behalf of this noV)le charity, 
and the loyal liberality of the people in pouring into the lap of this grand 
commission their hundreds of thousands of golden eagles. The munificent 
liberalitv of the citizens of California won the admiration of the loyal States, 
and the wonder of the civilized world. This noble generosity of the golden 
States and the firm union stand taken by the California representatives, 



134 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Sargent, Phelps and Low, in the Thirty-seventh Congress, and Cole, Higby 
and Shannon in the House, and Conness in the Senate, in the Thirty-eighth 
Congress, were often mentioned by the President in conversation with his 
friends as one of the most pleasing and gratifying manifestations of devotion 
to the Union and promising indication of the success of the right, which he 
received during his first administration. 

The isolation of California and the great distance from the Atlantic States 
deprived the people of that State of the opportunity of assisting by her citizen 
soldiers in a great measure in the struggle for the suppression of the rebellion. 
But her citizens were not wanting in zeal and enthusiasm in the loyal cause, 
and in whatever way they could prove their loyalty they did it heartily. As 
required by the national Government, two regiments of cavalry and five of 
infantry were organized. In 1661, a regiment of infantry and a battalion of 
cavalry marched across the plains into New Mexico and held that Territory 
for the Union ; a portion were sent East by steamer, and did good service, 
and the residue served on the Pacific Coast. California expressed her desire, 
through the loyal press and her representatives, to furnish her full quota for 
active service ; but for reasons stated, the administration declined the proffered 
aid to any considerable extent; but many of her citizens, anxious to serve in 
the Union army, left their business and went East and entered the service in 
the Eastern States. 

At a parting interview with the President on the 21st of March, 1865, a 
few days before his assassination, I remarked, "I leave this evening for 
California, and it would give me pleasure to bear the intelligence to her citi- 
zens that at no distant day you would visit our golden State, and I can assure 
you that you will find warm and loyal hearts who will give you a generous 
welcome." The President said, as he took me by the hand, " I have long 
desired to see California ; the production of her gold mines has been a marvel 
to me, and her noble stand for the Union, her generous liberal offerings to 
the sanitary commission, and her loyal representatives she has sent to labor 
for the preservation our nation have endeared your people to me, and not 
anything would give me more pleasure than a visit to the Pacific shore, and to 
say in person to your citizens, ' God bless you for your devotion to the Union,' 
but the unknown is before us. I may say, however, that I have it now in pur- 
pose, when the railroad is finished, to visit your wonderful State." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

BATTLE AT BULL RUN — APPOINTMENT OF GENERAL M'CLELLAN. 

The rebellion found the Government no less prepared to meet it than it 
found the people wanting in military knowledge and experience. None 
seemed to doubt but that the rebellion might be put down in a few months. 
While the loyal citizens were ready and desirous to aid the Government by 
furnishing men and money required for the security of the Union and sub- 
duing the rebellion, they became impatient at the apparent tediousness of the 
military movement. This impatience of the people as well as that of the 
loyal press for a time, was one of the difheulties the administration had to 
endure and contend with during the first years of the war. The President 
had a proper respect for the wishes and opinions of the people, and the design 
and efforts of his administration were so to direct and lead the people that 
they would be prepared and ready to act when he acted and to give support 
and aid to the measures of his administration when they were ripe for execu- 
tion. On the first of May the safety of the national capital was assured. 
Fortress Monroe was reinforced, Cairo was occupied by the Government 
forces, and the military and naval operations were being enlarged. The first 
by the organization of the different military departments, and the second by 
measures taken to more effectually close the Southern ports. 

At this time secessionists were plotting in St. Louis to seize the Govern- 
ment arsenal and arms in that city. General Lyon promptly thwarted the 
scheme and secured the arms for the Union forces. The rebel forces were 
concentrating at Manassas, and rebel troops held Harper's Ferry. General 
Butler was in command at Fortress Monroe with a force of twelve thousand 
men. On the 10th of June occurred the first considerable battle of the war 
at Big Bethel, the result of which was not favorable to the Union forces. On 
the 24th of May General Mansfield, with the Union troops, crossed the 
Potomac from Washington thirteen thousand strong, and were set to work in 
the erection of forts for the defense of Washington. On the 17th of June 
Western Virginia repudiated the ordinance of secession of Virginia and in 

135 



136 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

convention formed a new State Government and appointed F. H. Pierpon 
Governor. This was the first step towards " reconstruction," and the move- 
ment was with the direct approval and sanction of tlie President. Secession- 
ists were there, and rebel troops had been sent from old Virginia to Western 
Virginia to hold that part of the State and the people to the Southern con- 
federacy. 

Early in June a campaign was arranged for the expulsion of the rebel 
forces, and Generals Morris and Rosecrans were placed in command. On the 
23d of June General McClellan arrived and assumed command of the Union 
forces. On the 10th of July the battle of Rich Mountain was fought, which 
resulted in a Union victory and the surrender of Colonel Pegram with one 
thousand prisoners. On the same day General Garnett, who was advancing 
with rebel forces to the support of Colonel Pegram, was attacked by the 
Union troops ; his forces were routed and he was killed. These victories for 
that time cleared out the rebels in Western Virginia. These successes, 
together with General McClellan's manner of their announcement, won that 
wonderful confidence which was afterwards accorded to that General. Those 
that were present in that campaign are well aware how little he had to do 
with its planning or with ihe battles l)y which victory was secured. After 
the completion of the defenses of Washington on the Virginia side of the 
Potomac, the Union forces were organized under the command of General 
McDowell, and under the pressure of popular impatience it was determined 
to give battle to the rebel army which had concentrated at Manassas. The 
popular cry, "onto Richmond," and the short term of service of many of 
the volunteers called out for ninety days, forced General Scott to order a 
general forward movement on the 15th of July. 

The rebel General had called in his forces 'from Harper's Ferry and other 
points and awaited the attack of the Union army. On the 16th of July the 
Union army, commanded by General McDowell, moved from their camps 
near Washington on the enemy. The attack was made on the 21st, which at 
first was successful, but the rebel army, during the battle, was reinforced by 
Johnson's forces from AVinchester, which caused a panic among some of the 
Union regiments, and the result was the defeat and retreat of the Union 
forces towards Washington, sadly demoralized. General Sheridan said: 
" The Union troops fought bravely and well, both armies were fairly defeated, 
and it either had stood fast the other would have run." As it was, the Union 
forces retreated and the rebel forces were too badly beaten to pursue. The 
loyal citizens were overwhelmed with mortification and disappointment at the 
result of the battle. A brilliant victory had been anticipated, but they were 
not disappointed nor discouraged. Tliey said : " It is bad luck, but we must 
try it again." The soldiers went into the action with the idea that all they 



OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 137 

had to do was to make a bold appearance and the rebels would run. This 
impression was now dispelled, as they had found a foeman worth}^ of their 
steel. The President felt deeply and keeply the result of this battle. As he 
walked back and forth between the White House and the War Department, 
all could see that he suffered now from the great burden resting upon him. 
Peace had been put far away by the result — Providence seemed to have 
ordered it. A thousand battles were yet to be fought. A thousand plagues 
were yet to be endm-ed before the public mind would let the bondman go. 

After the battle of Bull Run General Sherman's brigade occupied Fort 
Corcoran. The Sixty-ninth New York regiment, three months men, were 
quartered there. One morning after the review, one of the Captains stepped 
up to General Sherman and said : " Colonel, I am going to New York to-day ; 
what can I do for you?" The Colonel answered : " How can you go to New 
York? I have signed no leave for you." The captain replied, saying, " Noi 
that he did not want a leave. He had engaged to serve three months, and 
had already served more than that time, and was going home." General 
Sherman turned to him and said: " Captain, this question of your term of 
service has been submitted to the rightful authorities. You are a soldier and 
must submit to orders until you are properly discharged. If you attempt to 
leave without orders it will be mutiny, and I will shoot j'ou like a dog. Go 
back to the fort and don't leave it without my orders." The same day the 
President came over from Washington to visit the soldiers. He said to 
General Sherman that he would like to speak to the soldiers. The General 
replied that he would be pleased to have him do so, but that he would ask 
the President to discourage all cheering. The President stood up in his 
carriage and made a feeling address, referring to the disaster at Bull's Run, to 
the high duties that still devolved on them, and the brighter days yet to come. 
At one or two points in his address the soldiers began to cheer, but he 
promptly checked them, saying, " Boys, don't cheer. I confess I rather like 
it myself, but General Sherman here says it is not military, and I guess we 
had better defer to his opinion." Soon after the address was delivered the 
captain before mentioned was seen making his way through the crowd to the 
carriage, and on his approach, he said; " Mr. President, I have a cause of 
grievance. This morning I went to speak to General Sherman and he 
threatened to shoot me." The President, who was still standing, said : 
"Threatened to shoot you? " '• Yes, sir; he threatened to shoot me." The 
President looked at the captain and then at General Sherman, and then 
stooping his tall, spare form towards the captain, said in a loud whisper that 
could be heard at some distance, " Well, if I were you and he threatened to 
shoot I would not trust him, for I believe he would do it." The captain 
turned and walked away, amidst the laughter of the soldiers. 



138 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

The victory of the Confederates at Bull's Run, so far as the material 
results which followed, was a barren one. The rebels were so nearly defeated 
that they could not follow up their success, and the encouragement the dis- 
loyal element received was more tlian equalled by the increased and renewed 
resolution of the loyal citizens to renew the conflict at the earliest practicable 
period. The defeat of the Union forces rendered it necessary that there 
should be a change in the army officers, and accordingly General INlcDowell 
was relieved of his command in August and General McC'lellan was called 
to take command of the army of the Potomac. General Scott had recom- 
mended his appointment, and his Napoleonic dispatches from AVestern 
Virginia had pleased the people and attracted their attention. His appoint- 
ment gave faith and promise of success to the people, and a ralh ing point for 
their patriotic zeal and enthusiasm. The administration had high hopes and 
expectations from him as a leader of the Union armies. For three months 
after his appointment, under his faithful supervision the organization of the 
troops went on, until he had at his command an army splendid in drill and 
equipments, imposing in members and confident of victory — and then should 
it have been led to the achievements of those victories and to that successful 
issue which the army anticipated and expected, and which the administra- 
tion and the people felt was assured. 

July 25, 1861, General Fremont received the appointment of Major 
General, and was assigned to the military department of the West with his 
headquarters at St. Louis. Previous to his arrival at St. Louis had occurred 
the battle of Wilson's Creek. The Union troops were led by Generals Lyon 
and Sigel against the rebel forces under Ben McCulloch. It was the second 
important battle of the rebellion, and resulted in the death of General Lyon 
and the orderly retreat of the Union forces under General Sigel. The 
battle could not be considered a defeat of the Union troops as General 
Lyon with his force of six thousand men had inflicted so much injury on 
McCulloch's army of twenty-two thousand that General Sigel was not 
molested on his retreat. General Fremont, on his arrival at St. Louis, found 
the affairs of the State in a most unhappy condition. It contained many dis- 
unionists, and there were many secession emissaries from the rebel States 
who were determined, if possible, to carry the State over to the Confederacy; 
and to make matters more complicated, tlie Union sentiment was divided. 
There were the Union slavery party and the anti-slavery Union party. 
General Fremont's movements and sentiments were in unison with the 
principles of the anti-slavery party. On the 31st day of August, General 
Fremont issued a i)roclamation declaring martial law, also that the real and 
personal property of all persons in the State who should take up arms against 
the United States was declared confiscated to the public use, and their slaves 



OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 139 

were declared free men; and further doflariiig that all rebels should be shot 
if found within the Union lines with arms in their hands. This prorlamation 
-of General Fremont was in advance of the policy of the administration and 
assumed prerogatives which only belonged to the President. The wisdom of 
this measure at the time was considered by many of the loyal citizens of the 
loyal States of doulitful utility in Missouri, while it aflfected the success and 
progress of the loyalty of all the border States. The President felt that 
General Fremont had assumed grave and improper res])onsibilities in taking 
so important a step and measure without notice or consultation with the 
administration. The I'resident, as soon as he received and read the 
proclamation, wrote to the General, September 2, saying, that there were 
two points in it which gave him anxiety, and which did not meet with his 
approval. The first was, that no man must lie shot under the proclamation 
without first having the President's consent. The second was the paragrai)h 
liberating slaves. The President ordered that this should be so modified as 
to conform with the provisions contained in an Act of Congress entitled " An 
Act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes, approved August 
6, 1S61," and that said Act should ])e i)ublished with iiis order. The appoint- 
ment of General Fremont and liis management of military afi'airs in Missouri 
did not prove a popular or a successful one. AVhile there was a large field 
open for military operations against the rebels and the enemies of the Union 
he had quarrels and dissensions with tlie friends of the administration. His 
quarrel and difhculty with Colonel F. T. Blair, and the charges and counter- 
charges between the principals and their fi-iends was the subject of much 
newspaper comment, as it alienated friends and tended to prevent hannonv 
in the Union partj'. The President refused to espouse the cause of either 
I)arty in the general quarrel, and he became satisfied that the interests of the 
Union cause in jVIissouri, as well as those of the country at large would be 
subserved l)y the removal of the General, which took place in Octol)er, 186] 
when he was su])erceded by General Hunter, wliose term of service was brief 
and wlio in turn was relieved by General Halleck. The removal of General 
Fremont from his command of the Western department was at the time the 
<"iuse of much discontent and complaint by the anti-slavery men in Missouri 
and much unfriendly criticism by the radical anti-slavery citizens in the tVee 
8tates. 

The conservative policy of the President relative to slavery in the border 
slave States during the first two years of the rebellion was not popular with 
the ultra Republicans in the loyal States. But as the war went on and tlie 
rebellion progressed, the wisdom of his policy became more apparent and 
the results following therefrom were disastrous to the rebel conftnleracy. 



140 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

In the border States of Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri were many citizens 
"wha were loyal to the Union and friendly to the administration, a still 
larger number whose sympathies were with the South, but their politioal 
and pecuniary interests still held them to the Union, and a third party who, 
in principle and action, favored the rebellion. Those States were still repre- 
sented in the National Legislature, and it was the policy of the President to 
pursue that course towards those States which should not abate their loyalty 
to the Union, and which would destroy all hope and expectation of the rebels 
that those States would ever join their confederacy. This prudential policy 
of the President and the good results that followed became more apparent as 
the war progressed, and its effects were felt and seen in the more decided 
utterances of fidelity and loyalty to the Union, and in their sending many 
regiments of loyal soldiers to the front to battle for the Union. There was a 
gradual growth of that tone of public sentiment and feeling which was more 
in concert and harmony with the measures of the administration in relation 
to slavery, and the results of this policy finally terminated in the abolition 
of slavery in the States of Maryland and Missouri by their own citizens before 
the close of the war. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

GENERAL SCOTT RETIRES FROM ACTIVE SERVICE — THE TRENT AFFAIR. 

The appointment of General McClellan to the command of the army oj 
the Potomac left General Rosecrans to complete the Union work in Western 
Virginia (which General McClellan in his report said was accomplished), 
which was effected during the months of August and September. The army 
of the Potomac was rapidly increasing in numbers, and was being made effi- 
cient in organization and discipline. At this time General McClellan's 
popularity with the army was unbounded, and the country had the utmost 
confidence in his ultimate success. On the 29tli of August, General Butler, 
from Fortress Monroe, acting with a naval force, took possession of Hatteras 
Inlet with the rebel forts therein. On the 21st of October occurred the dis- 
asterous battle of Ball's Bluff. It was a sad failure ; the killed, wounded, 
captured and drowned were eleven hundred. Here Senator Baker, the Presi- 
dent's friend and freedom's champion, fell. The country mourned in sorrow 
and anger. General McClellan, in his report of the disaster, said "that 
situated as the troops were — cut off alike from retreat and reinforcements, 
one thousand seven hundred men against five thousand, the issue could not 
have been otherwise." The country wanted to know, and the people inquired 
why, with an immense army within a few miles, were the Union troops left or 
placed where reinforcements and retreats were alike impossible for their 
relief. This sad affair at Ball's Bluff and the inactivity manifested in the 
army of the Potomac did not appear well to General Scott, and he had daily 
experience that his position was becoming unpleasant under the existing 
management of military affairs. He therefore on the 1st of November, in a 
letter to the President, desired on account of physical infirmaties, to be 
relieved from all active duties. In an answer by the President to the General, 
granting his request, Mr. Lincoln added : " The American people will hear 
with sadness and deep emotion that General Scott has withdrawn from the 
active control of the army. The President and the unanimous Cabinet 

express their own and the nation's svmpathv in his personal aftiiction, and 

141 



142 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEKS'ICES 

their profound sense of t!ie important public services rendered bj- him to his 
country during his long and brilliant career, among which ever will be grate- 
full}' distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union and 
the flag when assailed by parricidal rebellion." The President and his entire 
Cabinet waited upon him at his residence, and then with his Secretaries 
around him, the President read his letter. It stirred the old General's heart 
as it never had been moved before. It seemed to him to be the finishing 
up in brightness and grandeur a life — a long life spent in faithful service and 
devotion to his country, its Constitution and its laws. The old General 
replied: " This honor overwhelms me. It over pays all the services I have 
attempted to render my country. If I had any claim before they are all 
obliterated by this expression of approval by the President, with the 
unanimous support of the Cabinet. I know the President and this Cabinet 
well. I know that the country has placed its interests in this trying crisis in 
safe keeping. Tlieir councils are wise. Their labors are untiring as they are 
loyal, and theirs is the right one." 

Thus the hero of Lundy's Lane and Chapultepec, after half a century 
spent in the service of his country, leading its armies to victory, went into 
retirement and rest with the approbation of his Government and the gratitude 
of the people for his eminent services rendered, the more meritorious 
for his loyalty and devotion to the Union in her hour of peril and need. 
Born in the South, a son of the Old Dominion, he had chivalric notions of 
Virginia's institution and greatness; but when he came to choose between 
union and disunion, loyalty or disloyalty, he laid all State, fi'iends, and 
sectional feelings at the shrine of liberty, on the altar of freedom, and he 
lived to see treason punished, loyalty rewarded and the success and safety of 
that Government he so loyally supported. 

During the month of November South Carolina was invaded and a 
brilliant naval victory was achieved in Port Royal harbor. Generals Grant 
and McClernard attacked a rebel camp in Missouri, capturing twelve guns, 
baggage, horses and many prisoners. General AV. T. Sherman was sent to 
Kentucky and held that State against the rebels under General Williams. 
He was afterwards transferred to the army of Tennessee, and General Buell 
took Sherman's command in Kentucky. 

On the V2th of October, 1861, the steamer Theodora steamed out of 
Charleston harbor with two notorious rebels on board, James M. Masijn and 
John Slidell, embassadors to England and France. Their object was to obtain 
from those Governments the recognition of the Southern Confederacy. They 
proceeded to Cuba to take passage on the British mail steamer Trent. 
Captain Wilkes, of the United States frigate San Jacinto, had been advised of 
the proceedings of the commissioners, and on the second day out from 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. t 143 

Havana the Trent was hailed from tlie San Jacinto by a shot across her bow. 
Two oftaers and marines from the San Jacinto boarded the Trent, and soon 
found Messrs. Mason and Slidell and their secretaries, and by force, against 
the protest of the officers of the Trent, 'took them to the San Jacinto, when 
they were brought to the United States and incarcerated in Fort Warren in 
Boston harbor. Tliis event produced in both countries at the time intense 
excitement. The Englishmen, always sensitive to any interference with their 
coveted claims as "mistress of the seas," were loused to indignation at this 
insult, as they claimed it was, to their Government and flag. The rebels 
looked upon the event as a special manifestation of Providence in their favor. 
To the loyal citizens of the Union the news was most cheering. They greeted 
the event with joy and exultation, and lauded and commended the action of 
Captain Wilkes. It was well that we had a (Government at Washington 
calm, dignified and intelligent, and in the cool, deliberate conduct of its 
actions, entirely free from being affected by any sudden or misdirected 
passions of the people. The 1 resident, as well as Secretary Seward, were 
well aware that the seizure was a grave matter ; that it would be considered 
by the British Government as an affront to the national honor, and that 
reparation would be demanded. Secretary Seward immediately communi- 
cated to Mr. Adams, our Minister at the Court of St. James, a statement of 
the case, with the assurance that Captain Wilkes had acted without instruc- 
tions and thatour Government was prepared to discuss the matter ina friendly 
spirit as soon as the position of the British Government should be made 
known. On the 13th of November Earl Russell wrote to the British Minister 
at Washington, Lord Lyons, giving his understanding of the case, and saying 
" that his Government was willing to believe that the naval officer was not 
acting in compliance with any instructions from his Government, and that 
the United States would of its own motion release the commissioners a^nd 
make an apology." The Earl, very soon after dispatching his note of Novem- 
ber 30, seemed to have somewhat changed his policy, for in a subsequent 
note he instructed Lord Lyons to wait seven days after having made his 
demand for reparation, and in case no answer should be given, or any other 
answer than a full compliance with the terms of the demand, at the end of 
that time he sliould leave Washington with the archives of the legation and 
repair to London. 

On the 26th of December, Secretary Seward, by direction of the Presi- 
dent, sent a reply to this dispatch to Lord Lyons, in which the entire question 
and subject was reviewed at length, and with consummate skill and ability. 
The Government decided and declared that the detention of the vessel and 
the removal from her of the emissaries of the rebel confederacy was justifiable 
by the laws of war and the practice and precedents of the British Government ; 



144 , LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

but that in assuming to decide upon the liability of these persons to capture 
for himself, instead of sending them before a proper legal tribunal where a 
regular trial could be had, Captain Wilkes had departed from the rule of inter- 
national law uniformly asserted by the' American Government, which forms 
a part of its most cherished policy. Mr. Seward said : " If I decide in favor 
of my own Government, I must disavow its most cherished principles, and 
reverse and forever abandon its essential policy. If I maintain these 
principles and adhere to that policy, I must surrender the case itself. There- 
fore, the persons held in military custod}' in Fort Warren will be cheerfully 
liberated." 

This decision, sustained by the able and lucid reasoning advanced in its 
support, received the immediate and universal acquiescence of the loyal citi- 
zens; and in England and by all the Eurorpean nations, and by the friends 
of the Union everywhere, it was received and commended as a State paper 
of consummate ability. The effect of this incident, under the just and judicious 
course adopted by the administration, was eminently favorable to the United 
States. One of the immediate fruits of the amicable settlement of the contro- 
versy was the prompt rejection of all applications and demands by the rebel 
commissioners for the recognition of the independence of the confederate 
States. The British Government was satisfied with the liberation of the rebel 
commissioners. They sailed for London in an English vessel, but singularly 
failed in the objects of their mission. The friends of the rebellion in France 
and England were disappointed and disgusted with the results following 
Secretary Seward's able management of the affair. The hopes of the Southern 
Confederacy, by the arrest of their commissioners, were raised to their highest 
state by the abrupt ultimatum of Earl Russell to our Government. But the 
adroit and successful management of the controversy by Secretary Seward, 
and rejection of the application of tlie rebel commissioners for the 
recognition of their confederacy, destroyed their hopes and brought dis- 
appointment and grief to the rebels and their friends throughout the Union. 
With the President's good humor, was his self-possession, resulting from his 
patience and calmness which was most fully exemplified in the settlement of 
the Trent affair. 

Hon. Chancellor Hartson says: "But with Lincoln all deficiences in 
prompt action met a full compensation in his calmness, and his wonderful 
practical nature. Nothing ruffled his calmness ; nothing exhausted his 
patience — patience, that divine quality; that heroic element; all the more 
heroic because we pay it no respect. How rich Lincoln's nature was in this. 
The calm self-possession resulting from ^these two elements was never 
brought out more fully than when the seceding States were seeking recog- 
nition as an independent Government from the Europeoc powers. When I was 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 145 

in Washington, a gentleman connected with tlie Department of State showed 
me the original draft of the dispatch to our Minister in England on this sul)- 
ject. The first draft was in Mr. Seward's handwriting, couched in vigorous 
English; it was bold and defiant, almost threatening in its tone, putting in 
strong language the insults and injury to our Government. But all through 
the document were erasures and interlinations in Lincoln's hand, softening 
this word and toning down that arrogant claim, substituting gentler and more 
cautious expressions for Seward's blunt language, till when all was done without 
altering the meaning of the document the whole tone was changed. Seward's 
letter would have offended the dignity of England and would have dared her 
to recognize the rebel confederacy. Lincoln's letter enlisted the sym])athy 
of the English liberals and prevented .ihe impending catastrophe. It was 
probably the most critical point of the war. ' ' 

Soon after the settlement of the Trent aftair, a clergyman from Spring- 
field, Illinois, an old friend of the President, visited Washington and called 
at the White House to pay his respects to the President. In the course of 
the conversation, he remarked: "Mr. Lincoln, I think you have made a 
nice point in this Trent affair. I think the rebels will be sadly disappointed ; 
and, if it is not asking too much, I would like to knowgwhat will be your 
policy on the slavery question." " Well," said the President, " it seems to 
me that I find too many that are more concerned about the slavery question 
than they are about the Union. But I will answer your question by telling 
you a story. 'You know B., the old Methodist preacher, and you know 
Fox river and its freshets. Well, once Father B., in company with a j'oung 
Methodist minister, in the Spring of the year when the waters were high and 
roads deep and muddy, was traveling towards Fox river. The young 
minister was continually expressing his fears that the river would be so liigh 
that he would be prevented from crossing and could not fill his appointments. 
Father B. checked him in his gravest manner. Said he, young man, I have 
alwaj^s made it a rule of my life never to cross Fox river until I get to it.' 
And," added Mr. Lincoln, " I am not going to worry myself over the slaverj' 
question until I get to it." 

About this time an Austrian Count applied to President Lincoln for an 
appointment in the army. Being introduced by the Austrian Council he 
needed no further recommendation; but, as if fearing that his importance 
might not be duly appreciated, he proceeded to explain that he was a Count ; 
that his family were ancient and highly respectable. Lincoln, with a 
merry twinkle in his eye, tapped the aristocratic lover of titles on the shoulder 
in a fatherly way, as if the man was confessing to some wrong, and interrupting 
him, said in a soothing tone, "Never mind, you shall be treated with just 
as much consideration for all that." The Austrian nobleman looked for a 



146 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

few moments as though he fully recognized the fact that he was in a country 
where Counts were at a discount. 

A friend of the President called upon him when he was apparently 
pressed with important matters, and read a long manuscript to him, and then 
asked: "What do you think of it; how will it take?" The President 
reflected for a moment and then said : " Well, for people that like that kind 
of reading, I think it is just about the kind of reading they would like." 
These pleasantries of the President at this time indicate that the settlement 
of the Trent affair had given him cheerfulness and good humor which found 
vent in those jocose replies and that elasticity of spirit Avhich he at times 
enjoyed. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

GENERAL M'cLELLAN's PENINSULAR CAMt'AIGN. 

When General McClellan was called to the command of the Army of the 
Potomac in July, there were at or near Washington 50,000 men, and within 
the succeeding three months the number was increased by the Government to 
more than one hundred and fifty thousand, with five hundred pieces of 
artillery. The President gave him more men than was ever effectually 
handled by any one man in the field, and the War Department lavislily 
granted his army all the war material required. He succeeded General Scott 
on his retirement from the service November 1st, in command of all the 
armies of the Union, having personal command of the Army of the Potomac. 
He had the finest and best organized army of its numliers ever placed under 
the command of one man in modern times, and the people became more and 
more clamorous for action and a forward movement against the enemy. 

The President was urging him to do sometliingin response to the demands 

of the country. The rebels were massing in his front within striking distance. 

There was an unaccountable over-cautious delay. Hesitating, wavering, he 

always found excuses in the shape of fresh obstacles to a forward movement. 

He allowed the golden days of Autumn to pass away, and not a movement 

was made or a blow struck. The season had been very favorable for military 

movements. The troops were well organized and in the highest state of 

efficiency, and eager and earnest desires were expressed by the officers and 

privates to be led against the enemies of their country. All recollect how 

monotonous the news became as month after month it was said " all quiet on 

the Potomac." As Winter approached without any indications of an intended 

movement against the enemy, the public discontent rose to the highest point. 

The President, unable and unwilling to bear the procrastination, on the 27th 

of January issued an order for a general movement of all the Union armies, 

land and naval forces, against the insurgents on the 22d of February. Instead 

of obeying this order General ^McClellan objected, stating that the roads would 

be bad, and that he had a better plan on a better route. These objections of 

147 



148 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

General McClellan to the orders of the Commander-in-Chief were a subject of 
much correspondence l^y General McClellan, which delayed any movement 
until March 8th, when the rebels retired from their defenses at Manassas 
towards Richmond. On the 10th of March General McClellan moved forward 
his grand army to the rebel defenses and found no enemy, and on the 18th of 
March marched back to Alexandria. 

Six months had now intervened since General McClellan 's army of one 
hundred and fifty thousand men was organized and fully equipped for aggres- 
sive movements, and during that period had only occurred the battle of Ball's 
Bluff, before mentioned. It may be here stated that the President, in com- 
mon with the whole country, was deeply pained by the long delay of the Army 
of the Potomac to move against the rebels while in force at Manassas, and 
this feeling was changed into mortification and chagrin when it was known 
that tlie enemy were allowed to withdraw from that position unmolested, and 
even without their designs being known or suspected. The President had 
now become anxious and impatient. The people, instead of laying the blame 
on the General in command for these delays, were blaming the administra- 
tion, and had manifested their dissatisfaction in the late elections, and the 
President, as well as the loyal citizens, felt that the crisis demanded a forward 
movement and a vigorous prosecution of hostilities. The President said he 
would have no further delay. General McClellan must now move. He could 
select his own route to find the enemy, but they must be found. Only one 
thing was required, a sufficient force must be left to protect the National 
capital. The route selected for an offensive movement was the peninsula, 
by way of Fortress Monroe. Four corps accompanied him, numbering 146,255 
men. The troops arrived and were landed on the peninsula the first of April. 
General McClellan immediately pushed forward a portion of his force 
towards Yorktown, where the enemy had thrown up a line of intrenchments 
across the peninsula. Here, with a rebel force of 11,000 men, according to the 
ofticial report of the rebel commander, General Magruder in front, General 
McClellan, with over one hundred thousand men, with pick and shovel 
went to work to entrench, and began a regular siege, and here he was held at 
bay one month, when the rebels quietly evacuated their position and retired 
up the peninsula. 

This recalls an incident that occurred' at the White House after General 
McClellan was nominated for the Presidency at the C'hicago Convention. A 
gentleman from New York, in company with Assistant Secretary Dana, called 
upon the President. In the course of the conversation the gentleman said : 
" What do you think, Mr. President, is the reason General McClellan does 
not reply to the letter of nomination from the Chicago Convention ? " " Oh," 
replied Lincoln, with a characteristic twinkle of his eye, " he is entrenching." 



OP AHRAIIAM LINCOLN. 149 

Wiiile the army was intrenching before Yorktown General McClellanwas 
engaged in sending dispatches to the President for more men and making 
comphiints tliat he was not properly supported bj' the Government. This 
continual complaint and demand worried the President, as he knew there 
was no real cause, and on the 8th of April he wrote to the General, reviewing 
all his complaints, and closing by saying : "I beg to assure you tliat I never 
have written to you, nor spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than 
now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain j-ou, but you must act." On the 
30th of April General McC'lellan called upon the War Department for Parrott 
guns, and on the 1st of May the President wrote to him: "Your call for 
Parrott guns from Washington alarms me, chiefly because it argues indefinite 
procrastination. Is anything to be done?" The rebels opened the way for 
the General's advance by quietly retiring from their fortifications at York- 
town, May 4th, and on the 5th occupied their second line of defenses at 
Williamsburg. 

On the 5th of May a portion of the army was ordered forward under 
Generals Hooker, Heintzleman, Sumner and Hancock, and found the enemy 
near Williamsburg and engaged them early in the day. General McClellan 
was at his headquarters near Yorktown and was informed by a messenger 
that a bloody battle was in progress and that his presence was needed on the 
field. He arrived on the battlefield late in the afternoon. His presence 
aided materially in producing a favorable result of the battle and the retreat 
of the enemy. Next morning no poiHion of the rebel army was found in the 
vicinity. 

We leave the army for a time, making its way towards Richmond, 
to narrate some events taking place at Fortress Monroe and in the vicinity. 
The President and a member of his Cabinet had arrived at the fort for consul- 
tation and an examination of the state of affairs. Nothing could be effected 
on James river on account of the presence of the formidable Merimac, and 
because Norfolk was held by the rebels. An expedition was fitted out at 
Fortress Monroe, under General Wool, to take Norfolk. To show how this 
was done and to illustrate how the President dealt with his officers, we shall 
let Mr. Lincoln tell his own story. In conversation with General Garfield, 
he said : " We went down to Fortress Monroe in Chase's revenue cutter, 
and consulted with Admiral Goldsborough on the feasibility of taking Norfolk 
by landing on the north side and making a march of eight miles. The 
Admiral said there was no landing on that shore, and that we should have to 
double the cape and approach the place from the North side, which would be 
a long march and a difficult one. I asked him if he ever tried to find a landing 
and he replied he had not. 'Now, Admiral,' said I, ' if you don't know there 
is a landing on the North side I want you to find out.' The Admiral took the 



150 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

hint. He fitted out an expedition, and taking Chase and Wool along with 
some marines, he went on a voyage of discovery, and Stanton and I remained 
at Fortress Monroe. That night we went to bed, but not to sleep, for we 
were very anxious for the fate of the expedition. Next morning, about 2 
o'clock, I heard the heavy tread of Wool ascending the stairs. I went into 
the parlor and found Stanton hugging Wool in the most enthusiastic manner 
as he announced that he had found a landing and had taken Norfolk." 
Thus, by a hint from the President, the capture of Norkfolk was accomplished 
on the 9th of May, and on the 11th the Merrimac was blown up liy her own 
officers and the passage of James river was opened to Drury's Bluff". 

Returning to the army of the Potomac, which lay at Williamsburg, five 
days after the battle. During this time General McC'lellan was busy with his 
dispatches to the President. The replies of the President indicate their pur- 
port. Under date of May 15, he writes : " I liave done all I could or can do to 
support you. I had hoped that the opening of the James river and putting 
Wool and Burnsides in communication with an open road to Richmond or to 
you had eft'ected something in that direction." 

On the 7th of May, (ieneral Franklin landed at West Point with his 
division, supported by the divisions of Sedgwick, Porter and Richardson. 
The rebels were obliged to attack this force in order that their retreating 
troops from the battle of Williamsburg could make their waj- back towards 
Richmond. The enemy, after a contest of six hours, were repulsed, but the 
object of the attack was effected. On t^ie 16th of May General McClellan's 
headquarters had reached the White House, and on the 25th a movement was 
made to cross the Chicahominy, which was partially affected, and on the 30th 
and 31st of May a severe and well contested battle was fought, which resulted 
in the repulse of the re))els and such a severe loss to them as to greatly alarm 
Richmond ; and the expectations and impressions of the enemy was that an 
immediate pursuit would he made by the Union forces. On the succeeding 
day General Heintzelman sent out a reconnoitering party which advanced 
within four miles of Richmond, and no enemy was found. Of this reconnoiter 
General McClellan was informed, and now it would seem that the favorable 
opportunity was at hand to advance and capture Riclimond ; but General 
McClellan thought otherwise. He ordered tiie troojts to fall back and occupy 
their old positions. On the 7th of June General McClellan wrote to the 
Secretary of War that he should be ready to move as soon as General McCall 
should reach him with his division, which he did on the 10th of June. The 
Army of the Potomac landed on the peninsula the first day of April ; two 
months and ten days had now elapsed and no decisive results had been accom- 
plished. The long delay and procrastination had given time for the rebels to 
call in and concentrate their forces for the defense of Richmond, and each 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 151 

succeeding day made the success of the Union army more difficult and the 
capture of Richmond more improbable. Among the many complaints and 
demands of General McClellan during those seventy days of progress from 
Fortress Monroe to the Chicahominy was his request for the reoi-ganization 
of his army. He was not satisfied with the appointment of the corps com- 
manders, which were made by the President, and such officers as Sumner, 
Heintzelman and Keyes were not of his choosing; and on the 9th of ]May iie 
wrote to the Secretary of War, asking permission to reorganize the army 
corps. The Secretary informed him that the President would write to him 
relative to that subject. The letter of the President is here subjoined ; it is 
frank, friendly and characteristic, and is as follows: " I have just assisted 
the Secretary of War in forming the part of a dispatch to you relative to army 
corps, which dispatch, of course, will have reached you long before this will. 
I wish to say a few words privately on this subject. I ordered the army cori)S 
organization not only on the unanimous opinion of the twelve generals of the 
divisions, but also on the unanimous opinion of every military man 1 could 
get an opinion from, and every modern military book, j'ourself only excepted. 
Of course I did not on my own judgment pretend to understand the subject. 
I now think it is indispensable for you to know how youi- struggles against it 
is received in quarters which we cannot disregard. It is looked upon as 
merely an effort to pamper one or two pets, and persecute and degrade their 
supposed rivals. I have no word from Sumner, Heintzleman and Keyes. 
The commanders of these corps are, of course, the three highest officers with 
you ; but I am constantly told that you have no consultation or communi- 
cation with them ; that you consult and communicate with nobody but 
General Porter, and perhaps General Franklin. I do not say these complaints 
are true or just, but at all events it is proper you should know of their exist- 
ence. Do the corps commanders disobey your orders in anything? Are you 
strong enough even with my help to put your foot upon the neck of Sumner, 
Heintzelman and Keyes all at once ? This is a practical and very serious ques- 
tion to you." General McClellan thought it advisable, after the receipt of the 
President's letter, not to press the change in the corps commanders which he 
had thought so essential and necessary. But he created two additional corps 
which he placed under the command of Generals Porter and Franklin, the 
men mentioned by the President as his favorites. The tenor of the Presi- 
dent's letter plainly indicated that he was aware of the trouble and dissen- 
sions that were injuring the efficacy and imperiling the success of the Army of 
the Potomac, and that veteran officers, high in command and in the confidence 
of the Government and people, as were Sumner, Heintzelman and Keyes, 
could not be deprived of their commands at the caprice and M-ish of the com- 
manding General. General McClellan had now nearly for a month been 



152 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

delaying daily his intention to march upon Richmond. Several specific days 
had been named, although in every instance something occurred to prevent a 
movement and cause a further postponement. He had been idle so long that 
the rebels had fully prepared for his reception, and they were now disposed 
that he should move one way or the other. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

GENERAL M'cLELLAN's FAILURE. 

The battle of Fair Oak« was fought on the 31st of May, and for almost a 
month General McClellan's army lay inactive astride the Chicahominy and 
now It was the 25th of June and the rebels were now prepared for action On 
the 26th of June his right was attacked, but the enemy was repulsed This 
engagement disclosed the purpose of the enemy, which'was to crush his ri^^ht 
A^nng andcutoff his communications. Here was opened for his adoptron 
two plans. He could have crossed the riyer with his left wing and so haye 
reinforced his right as to haye giyen it ayictory; or, he could haye witli- 
drawn his right across the riyer, which was in itself a strong defensive line 
reunited his army, and marched into Richmond on the flank and rear of the 
attacking enemy. Concentration and a vigorous eflfort would have c^iven 
victory. Division invited and insured defeat. 

General McClellan left the right wing of his army of thirty thousand men 
the next day, without any support from the left wing, to contend against the 
mam body of the rebel army. Porter was so severely pressed that the 
dmsion of fe locum and the brigades of French and Meagher were sent to his 
aid, and by their assistance he was enabled to hold his position until dark 
when he withdrew across the Chicahominy. On the evening of the battle' 
June 27th, General McClellan informed his corps commanders that his ri^ht 
wing would be withdrawn across the Chickahominy and the army would fall 
back to James river. During the month that General McClellan had laid 
inactive on the Chicahominy his pen had been active in calling on the Presi- 
dent tor more troops, while his inactivity prevented the President from com- 
plying with his requests and demands. Had he pressed the enemy within 
the environs of Richmond, Jackson would have been recalled from the valley 
of the Shenandoah and the President would have been relieved of the 
pressure on Washington and have been able and willing to send more troous 
to his assistance. ^ 

Itmaybe said that at this time the large and magnificent peninsula 
expedition, so far as offensive operations were concerned, had come to a close. 

153 



154 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Organized under auspices the most promising, and with expectations the 
most sanguine and confident of success, it moved forward to its destination 
with the prayers, hopes and anticipations of milhons of freemen, but its oper- 
ations were retarded and impeded by timidity and procrastination. The 
trenches of Yorktown bore its bitter fruit, and the pestilental banks of the 
Chicahominy had its thousands, a sacrifice to inaction and delay. On the 
night of the 27th of June, after General Porter had recroseed the Chicahominy, 
the bridges were destroyed, and early the next morning the whole army was 
put in motion on the retreat to James river, and at the same time all army- 
supplies that could not be removed were destroyed. General McClellan 
and his stafi" proceeded in advance, leaving orders where the corps com- 
manders were to make successive stands to resist pursuit, he taking no part 
personally in anv of the succeeding engagements. On the 28th, the army 
continued its march unmolested towards James river. On the 29th the rear 
guard under General Sumner was attacked by the rebels, and in a severe and 
hotly contested battle they were repulsed at Savage Station. On the next 
day, at Frazier's Farm, the rebels made a desperate attempt to pierce the 
Union army but were repulsed. The Union army, during the night of the 
30th, fell back and occupied Malvern Hill, and here prepared to contest the 
further pursuit of the rebels. Here the reunited Union forces made a stand 
and were attacked in force by the rebel army, July 1st. The rebels were 
signally defeated and repulsed with fearful slaughter, suffering a more 
severe and serious loss than in any battle fought since the outbreak. On the 
following day the retreat of the Union army was continued unmolested ta 
Harrison's Landing, which had been selected by General McClellan, and 
which was occupied by the Union army July 2d. On the 8th of July following, 
the President visited the army at Harrison's Landing. At this time it was 
ascertained that the enemy was organizing their forces for an advance on 
Washington, the rebel general being satisfied that Richmond was no longer 
in danger. It was the opinion of the President and the corps commanders 
that the army should repair to Aquia creek in order to support General Pope, 
on whom General Lee, with the rebel forces, was advancing, and to cover 
Washington. General McClellan was opposed to this movement; he still 
wanted more men. He wanted General Burnside's command from North 
Carolina to help him, and he still wanted to try and take Richmond. But 
the President thought difTerently. He reasoned and believed that if General 
McClellan, with an army of 160,000 men, big with high hopes and expectations 
when they landed on the peninsula, could not defeat the rebels and take 
Richmond, that with the same army now decimated by disease contracted in 
the marshes and swamps of the Chickahominy, and in the seven day battles, 
and sadly demoralized by the retreat to James river, a successful advance on 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 155 

Richmond would be impolitic, if not impracticable. And further, the Presi- 
dent found on his visit to the army, that of the 100,000 men that had gone with 
General McClellan to the peninsula only 86,000 remained, leaving 75,000 men 
to be accounted for, and, making a fair estimate for the losses by death, 
wounded and disease, 50,000 men were still absent; and to the inquiry of the 
President how these 50,000 men were to be accounted for. General McClellan 
replied that 38,250 men were absent on furloughs granted by the permission 
of the commanding officer. 

History has written up a painful record of the movements and results of 
this remarkable campaign under General McClellan, and this acknowledg- 
ment is the most unaccountable and remarkable. For two months General Mc- 
Clellan had been almost daily calling upon the President for more troops, more 
reinforcement, and here he tells the President that from his army are 38,250 
men absent from duty on furlough. Well might the President bow his head 
in sorrow and anguish as he did at the sad failure of his expectations and 
the demolition of his hopes and anticipation, which had centered on the Army 
of the Potomac, knowing full well that on him and his administration were the 
expectations and hopes of the people centered, and that he and he alone must 
bear the obloquy, censorious comments, blame and disappointments that 
would follow so signal a failure. The people could not — must not now know 
where the blame should rest, and the reasons for the sad ending of the 
peninsula campaign. Here, on the 7th of July, while calling on the President 
for more men, and reorganizing his shattered battalions after the seven days 
battles. General McClellan found time to write the President a long letter of 
advice as to what should be the future policy and proper conduct of his 
administration. It was a surprising letter, remarkable for a subordinate 
officer to write to the President of his Government ; it was a rare epistle, such 
a one as history fails to record, except in this one instance, in which an 
officer, although high in command, presumes to advise and dictate to his 
Government what ought to be and should be its future policy. The particular 
points, among others, which he wished to impress upon the President were 
that in no event should the people of any State be subjugated, no political 
execution of persons, no confiscation and no forcible abolition of slavery. 
" A radical declaration of views, especially on slavery," he said, " would 
rapidly disintegrate our present armies." The President, instead of taking 
any notice of this letter, continued to urge the General's attention to the con- 
dition of his own army, saying to him, " Save the army where you are, and 
by removal if you must, but save the army at all events." 

On the 25th of July, General Halleck visited the army at Harrison's 
Landing, and after a careful inspection of its condition, called an informal 
council of the officers, a majority of whom recommended a withdrawal from 



156 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the peninsula ; and on the 4th of August he informed General McClellan that 
bis army was to be withdrawn from the peninsula to Aquia creek. General 
McClellan remonstrated against this movement, and declared " that the 
army ought not to be withdrawn ; it ought to be reinforced and marched 
against Richmond." He seemed not to understand that his presence or move- 
ments on the peninsula gave General Lee but little fears for the safety of 
^Richmond, as he was, with the main strength of his army, forcing General 
Pope back upon Washington. On the 4th of August General McClellan was 
ordered to remove his sick, and forward his troops as fast as possible to 
Aquia creek, as General Lee was pressing General Pope, who was contesting 
every inch of ground with his inferior numbers. It would seem that there 
should have been celerity of action now, but it was not until the 23d of 
August that General Franklin's corps started from Fortress Monroe, and on 
the 26th that General McClellan reached Alexandria. 

It is impossible to understand or comprehend the delay and dilatory 
movements of General McClellan at this critical juncture. He was earnestly 
urged to forward his troops as fast as possible to the assistance of General 
Pope. Orders were given him the 4th of August, and nineteen days inter- 
vened before the first arrival of troops at Aquia creek, which should have 
been accomplished in four days ; and this was permitted when he was informed 
that the celerity of his movements was necessary to save the Union arm}^ 
under General Pope, and secure the safety of the National capital. On the 
9th of August, General Halleck saj's: "The enemy is massing his 
forces to crush Generals Pope and Burnside, and considering the amount 
of transportation at your disposal, your delay is not satisfactor3\ You must 
move with celerity." Again, on the 11th of August, General Halleck says: 
"" The enemy is crossing the Rapidan in large forces ; to-day thej' are fighting 
General Pope ; there must be no further delay in your'movements. The delay 
which has already occurred was entirely unexpected and must be satisfactorily 
exx)lained. Let not a moment be lost." Thus, with all the ordering, urging 
and scolding by his superior officer, General Halleck, twenty days intervened 
after the first order was given before the first corps. General Franklin's, 
re^.ehed Aquia creek. This could have been accomplished in forty-eight 
hours. By the delay of General McClellan in sending forward his troops as 
directed, the Army of the Potomac under General Pope was driven back upon 
Washington. It had contested every inch of ground, and fought every battle 
with a gallant and tenacious courage that would have insured a decisive 
victory had it been promptly and properly supported. The question, why 
this fatal delay in the movements of General McClellan's troops, has never 
been satisfactorily answered. The most charitable inference is that he was 
jealous of General Pope and wished to deprive him of success ; at any rate, his 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 157 

conduct, his failure to act promptly and readily in this great necessity 
renders the conclusion unavoidable that he was inefficient, incompetent to 
grasp the situation, or wanting in true devotion to his country, and to the 
interests and responsibilities committed to his hands. The rebel army, 
elated with their victory over Pope, were moving up the Potomac for the pur- 
pose of crossing over and invading Maryland. The time for action had come. 
General Pope was relieved from his command and General McClellan was 
now placed in command of all the troops, and on the 4th of September the 
Union army crossed the Potomac into Maryland, and on the 12th reached 
Frederick, which had just been evacuated by the rebels. 

There was great excitement in Washington, the country was fearfully 
alarmed, and the people were losing confidence in the administration. The 
sad reverses and delays of General McClellan, and the causes thereof, could 
not be made, public without detriment to the military service ; and conse- 
quently the President must bear the reproach and censure of the public until 
the proper time should arrive when the real causes of those failures could be 
given to the country. On the 14th of September, the advance of the Union 
army came up with the rebel forces eight miles from Frederick, and the 
battle of South Mountain was fought and the enemy was forced back towards 
the Potomac. General McClellan pushed forward his right wing and center 
in pursuit of the Confederates, and came up with them and found them posted 
on the bank of Antietam creek. On the lOth the Union army had arrived in 
front of the enemy, and prejiarations were made for an attack the following 
day. Early on the morning of the 17th, Hooker commenced the battle on the 
enemy'.s left, and was supported by Mansfield and Sumner's corps. On the 
enemy's right, Burnside's was engaged. The battle raged back and forth 
over the contested field with alternate success. Tlie rebels were driven from 
most of their positions, and at the close of the day victory had been wrested 
at a fearful cost from the Confederate army. The Union loss was 2010 killed, 
9416 wounded and 1043 missing. The enemy's total loss was 13,500. The 
trophies of the Union army were thirteen guns, thirty-nine colors, 15,000 
small arms and 6000 prisoners. Early the next morning the Union troops 
rose from their rest on the bare ground, partook of their simple breakfast 
and were prepared to renew the contest. They believed that Lee could not 
escape. The river was in his rear and Porter's fresh corps of 15,000 men was 
at hand. Will the auspicious opportunity be improved? Will General 
McClellan grasp and improve the timely moment for success? 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

GENERAL m'cLELLAN SUPERCEDED — UNION SUCCESSES — STANTON, SECRETARY 

OF WAR. 

As was narrated in the preceding chapter, the battle of Antietam was 
fought on the 17th of September, resulting in the defeat of th*e rebels ; and 
they were allowed, during the night and the next day, to lead their shattered 
forces across the Potomac. It became necessary again to force a movement, 
for orders to issue from Washington to General McClellanto renew the battle 
on the 19th, when he suddenlj' discovered that the enemy was on the other 
side of the river. General McClelhin, with Porter's corps of 15,000 fresh 
troops who had taken no part in the L;te action, and his entire aimy not as 
badly disorganized by the battle as the army of the enemy, thouglit it not 
prudent to make a pursuit of the retreating foe, nor did he think it advisable 
to cross the Potomac ; but on the 23d he wrote to the President for reinforce- 
ments, and on the 28th he renewed his ajiplication, stating his purpose to 
hold the enemy where it was and to attack the rebels should they attempt 
to recross into Maryland. 

On the 1st of October the President visited the army and made a careful 
inquiry into its strength and condition ; on the 6th of October he issued an 
order for immediate advance. General Halleck telegraphed as follows : 
"The President directs that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the 
enemy, or drive him South. Your army must move now while the roads are 
good. If you cross the river between the enemy and Washington and cover 
the latter by your operations, you can have 30,000 men. The President is 
very desirous that your army should move as soon as possible." 

On the 11th of October the rebel general of cavalry, Stuart, with a force 

of 2500 men made a raid into Pennsylvania, going completely around General 

McClellan and his army and returned unharmed, although General McClellan 

had reported his capture sure. For over two weeks General McClellan 

delayed to move his army in obedience to the President's orders. He spent 

this interval in incessant demands for reinforcements, and on the 2l8t of 
158 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 159 

October inquired if it still was the President's wish that he should march on 
the enemy at once, or await the arrival of fresh horses. He was informed that 
the order of the 6th was unchanged and that all this good weather should not 
be wasted in inacti\aty. On the 25th of October he wrote to the War Depart- 
ment, saying, " That his horses were fatigued and greatly troubled with sore 
tongue." This complaint elicted the following inquiry from the President: 
"I have just read your dispatch about sore tongue and fatigued horses. 
Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since 
the battle of Antietam that would fatigue anything? " On the 1st of Novem- 
ber the army commenced crossing the Potomac and on the 5th General 
McClellan announced to the President that it was all on the Virginia side. 
This was just one month after the order was given to cross. The rebels had, 
in the meantime, fallen back and taken possession of all their strongholds 
and strongly reinforced their army. 

President Lincoln had experienced, to its fullest extent, the signification 
of that expression, " Times that tried men's souls." The patience and for- 
bearance of the administration had long ere this ceased to be a virtue, but 
with a disposition to bear and forbear with the General's inactivity, delays and 
failures, the President had deferred a change until the prospect for the 
future was cheerless and hopeless indeed and on the 5th of November an 
order was issued from the War Department relieving General McClellan of his 
command and directing General Burnside to take his place as Commander of 
the Army of the Potomac. 

The reader of history will find much food for thought and reflection in 
comparing the campaigns and military movements of General McClellan and 
their results with Sherman's march to the sea, of Sheridan in the Shenandoah 
valley, of Thomas in Tennessee and Grant in the wilderness and before 
Richmond. Compared with the operations of those generals and the results, 
the campaign of General McClellan was barren of advantageous effects. 
The period of fifteen months that General McClellan had command was the 
most remarkable of the war. Remarkable at first for high hopes and expec- 
tations of grand and brilliant results, and still more remarkable for inactivity, 
hesitancy, delays for want of action and discernment, and for blasted antici- 
pations and bitter disappointments. With due liberality the want of success 
with General McClellan must be regarded as mainly due to the natural consti- 
tution of his mind, unable to meet the great responsibilities of his position, 
and to grasp at the opportune moment — the favorable time for achieving great 
and decisive results. To him was intrusted the destinies and hopes of the 
Nation at a most critical period of its history. He assumed the responsi- 
bilities under the most flattering and auspicious circumstances, called by his 
Government with the entire approbation of the loyal people to the high com- 



160 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

toand of the largest and most powerful army ever marshaled till then upon 
this continent, furnished with every material of war necessary for effective 
service. The future seemed then, to the loyal citizens of the Nation, full of 
hope and promise, and the administration was equally hopeful of success and 
confident that the best results would follow from calling General McCIellan 
to command the Army of the Potomac. How sadly and bitterly the loyal 
citizens were disappointed is a matter of history, while upon the shoulders of 
the President were resting the responsibilities and burdens of the failure, 
rendered only tolerable by the consciousness that all the power, aid and 
advice and urging of the administration was given, and that every opportunity 
was used by the President to urge and impress the general with the necessity 
of prompt and decisive action, offensive and aggressive. 

The military operations in the year 1862, with the exception of General 
McCIellan in Eastern Virginia, were marked by energy and success. Much 
had been accomplished by our navy. The- Southern ports were efficiently 
blockaded and material had been procured and vessels built and secured 
for several important expeditions. Admiral Farragut, in April, 1862, with a 
naval force attacked Forts Jackson and St. Phillips on the Mississippi river, 
below New Orleans, and after six days' bombardment, the whole fleet passed 
the forts and on the 25th Commodore Farragut took possession of New 
Orleans, and the 1st of May General Butler arrived and assumed his duties 
as commander of that department. On the 19th of January the Union forces 
at Mill Springs released Western Kentucky from rebel occupation and opened 
a way for the Union armies into East Tennessee. Soon after the President's 
order of January 27 ordering an advance of all the Union armies. Forts Henry 
and Donelson, on the Cumberland and Tennessee, were captured. This led to 
the evacuation by the enemy of Bowling Green, the surrender of Nashville 
and the capture of Columbus, the rebels' stronghold on the Mississippi. 
Fort Pulaski, at the entrance to Savannah was taken, and the entire west 
coast of Florida was occupied by our forces. General Price was driven out of 
Missouri, Island Number Ten, Forts Pillow and Randolph were taken, and 
the Union forces occupied Memphis. The rebel forces had concentrated at 
Corinth, and on the morning of April 6th, with overwhelming numbers, sur- 
prised the Union forces at Pittsburg Landing and forced them back on the 
river. The fight lasted all day, the rebels having at the close of the day 
decidedly the advantage. General Grant, who was in command of the army, 
opportunely returned in the afternoon from a visit to ports below on the 
river. He rallied and reorganized our surprised troops, and being reinforced 
during the night by the timely arrival of General Buell with his forces, the 
next morning the battle was renewed and the rebels were pushed back in 
retreat with severe losses and the sudden attack of the enemv ended in a 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. jgi 

Signal and most complete victory for the Union army. The victory wa8 so 
decided that the President issued a proclamation of thanksgiving for this 
and other victories which had been achieved. From the battle of Pittsburg 
Landing the rebels fell back to Corinth, which they evacuated May 28, and 
were pursued by the Union forces for thirty miles. General Mitchell, by a 

On the 8th of February General Burnside, with the Union forces under his 

ZZTt "'TT' ''""°'' '''"^' "^*' '"-^^ *'""^^^^^ P"— . -d made 
f^ithei successful movements on the coast and rivers of North Carolina 
The rebels under General Bragg invaded Kentucky for the purpose o^ 
trengtheningthe secession sentiment in that State and to collect supphes but 
the attempt was a failure, and in an engagen.ent at Perrvville, whic suited 
m a success to the Union army, the rebels reteated. The rebels concentrated!' 
large torce and attacked General Rosecrans at Corinth, but were defeated with 

MuTe r- /^T.\^^f°-°^ *^^--- there was a severe engagement a 
Muriieesboro in which the Union forces were successful. The year 1862 
closed with results, with the exception of Eastern Virginia, favorable to the 
Union cause Tl.e border States, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee and 
Missouri, had been secured to the Union. The rebels had been forced from 
hose States and the Union citizens had been encouraged; and with the 
oyal citizens of the Nation there was but little doubt of the final triumph of 
the Union cause. 

On the 14th of January Simon Cameron resigned his position as Secretary 
o War and Ed^^n M. Stanton was called to the AVar Department. A number 

upon the President to urge upon him that other changes were absolutelv 
necessary. The President listened to their arguments, ^and then si w tb 
his quizzical smile: "Gentlemen, the case you are urging reminds me of a 
story o an old friend of mine out in Illinois. His homestead was verv much 
infested with those little black and white animals that we needn't caTby 
name, and after losing his patience with them he determined to sally out 
and luflK^ upon them a general slaughter. He took guns, clubs and dogs 
and at it he went, but stopped after killing one and returned home When 
his neighbors asked him why he had not fulfilled his threats of 1 iUhZ " 
that were on his place he replied that his experience with the one 1^ 
killed was such that he thought he had better stop where he was 'His 

at riTw "'' t" '' ""'^"^^"^^ ^^'^^^ ^^^"^^-^^ -d -"t away laughing 
at the method in whicli it was effected. 

The appointment of Mr. Stanton from the Democratic party was one of 
the mos fortunate of Mr. Lincoln's appointments. His l^yalfy was unim 
peachable, and his integrity and honesty has never been questioned. His 



162 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

management of the War Department gave evidence of his energy and ability, 
and his record is one of which his country is proud to hold up as worthy of 
imitation. The President had the utmost confidence in his ability and integ- 
rity and had an attachment and affection for him that was not misplaced, but 
was reciprocal. There were those that said to the President that they thought 
Stanton was very impulsive, that he was easily excited, and might act with- 
out due caution and deliberation. " In that case," said the President, " we 
may have to treat him as they are sometimes obliged to treat a Methodist 
preacher out in Illinois. He gets wrought up to so high a pitch of excitement 
in his exhortations and prayers that they are obliged to put bricks in his 
pockets to keep him down. We may be obliged to serve Stanton the same 
way, but I guess we'll let him jump awhile first." If Stanton jumped high 
at any time the leaders of the rebellion had the greatest cause of complaint. 
Stanton's record as a Cabinet oflicer is eminently an exalted one — one to 
which his countrymen point with pride and elation. A few days before the 
President's assassination Secretary Stanton tendered his resignation of the 
War Department. He accompanied the act with the most heartfelt tribute 
to the President's constant friendship and faithful devotion to the country, 
saying also that he as Secretary had accepted the position to hold it only 
until the war should end, and now he felt his work was done, and his duty was 
to resign. The President was greatly moved by the Secretary's words, and 
tearing to pieces the paper containing the resignation and throwing his arms 
around the Secretary, he said : " Stanton, you have been a good friend and 
a faithful public servant, and it is not for you to say when you will be no 
longer needed here." Several fiiends were present on the occasion and 
tears were in the eyes of all. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

DIFFERENCES RELATIVE TO SLAVERY — REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES. 

Tlie most difficult and embarrassing question with which Mr. Lincoln 
had to contend during his administration, and in the prosecution of the war 
for the unity and perpetuity of the Union, was that of slavery. 

There were two parties that could not, or would not, see that there was 
anything embarrassing or perplexing about it, or that he should have any 
hesitancy in treating it. One party was composed of those who regard the 
claims of slavery as superior to the constitution and the rights of slavery as 
the most sacred of all the rights which are guaranteed by that instrument. 
The other party was made up of those who regarded the abolition of slavery 
as the one thing to be secured, whatever else might be lost. The first 
denounced the President for having interfered with slavery at anj^ time, in 
any way and for any purpose. The latter denounced him with equal bitter- 
ness for not having swept it out of existence the moment of the attack on 
Fort Sumter. These parties were numerous in the free States, and each was 
clamorous that its resi)ective views and principles should be adopted by the 
administration. There was still a third party conservative on this question, 
opposed to slavery, and desirous of seeing it removed and abolislied by con- 
stitutional and legal measures. 

On this question of slavery, as in all others, the President acted on firm 
principles of his own, which he applied to the practical conduct of affairs as 
fast as the expediencies and necessities of the case required, and as fast as 
the public sentiment would sustain him in his action. The President's treat- 
ment of the slavery question was marked by characteristic features, and 
those were controlled and governed by his own views of slavery and by his 
determination to save and preserve the Union with or without slavery. No 
man held stronger convictions than Mr. Lincoln that slavery was morally, 
personally and politically wrong. He said : "If slavery is not wrong, then 
not anything is wrong." That it was morally and personally wrong was 

self-evident ; that it was politically wrong he had been taught, and so he 

163 



164' LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

understood the fathers of the republic. Their treatment of that qrestion was 
fully conclusive to him that they so regarded it. Their prohibition of slavery 
in the Northwestern territory, and the published letters and opinions of 
Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Jay and many others 
who took a conspicuous part in laying the foundation of the Government, 
showed that they regarded slavery as a great evil, inconsistent with the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence and the teachings and spirit of 
Christianity. Their letters and published opinions clearly satisfied Lincoln 
and indicated that they confidently expected that it would gradually pass 
away before the power of civilization and freedom, as it had already done in 
many of the States, and that thus shrunk from what they considered insur- 
mountable obstacles at that time to immediate emancipation, they consented 
to give the system certain advantages which they expected would be 
temporary and not dangerous to the stability of the Government. The 
framers of the Constitution were tender and sensitive on that point. They 
were careful that the word slave or slavery should not appear in that instru- 
ment , they were not willing that in future ages that notable text book should 
convey, even by implication, that they considered slavery one of the sheet 
anchors of the republic. They had, however, to deal with the institution as 
it then existed, and they did so gingerly and warily. They mentioned it as 
persons held to labor, and gave it such safe-guards as were absolutely neces- 
sary in the States where it then existed. The opinions and sentiments held 
b}' the fi'amers of the Constitution were received and held as politic by the 
larger body of the Southern people at that day. The relation of master and 
slave was at that time considered more in the light of domestic and family 
relations than the servile and chattel relations which it afterwards assumed. 
In that day the family and parental relations were seldom severed by the 
sale of a portion of the family for tiansmission to labor for life in a distant 
State. 

The invention of the cotton-gin by Eli AVhitney in 1793, and the opening 
up of the sugar plantations, about 1800, in Louisiana, gave a new phase to the 
condition of the slave, creating a great demand for slave labor which could 
only be supplied by the purchase of slaves in the non-producing cotton and 
sugar States and their removal to the cotton and sugar plantations, since the 
supply from Africa was closed — the slave trade and supply from that source 
being prohibited. Slaves now rose in value, and this turned the attention of 
many of the citizens of the non-producing cotton and sugar States to the 
raising of slaves to supply the demand, and the income of many citizens was 
counted and predicated on the number and value of the slaves they could 
raise to supply the increasing demand. This new condition of the slave 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 165 

interest, the great increase in the vahie of slaves, and the increasing demand 
for slave labor had a material and national effect in the slave and free States 
in opposite directions. The principles and views held bj' many of the 
Southern people in reference to slavery in an early day had passed away, and 
slavery was now considered and upheld in the Soutli as an excellent and 
profitable institution, and one to be fostered and extended in every way ; 
while in the free States the opposition to its principles and to its extension was 
gathering strength and creating public sentiment which was in keeping with 
universal freedom, which seemed to be advancing throughout the civilized 
world. Mr. Lincoln, from early teachings of a christian mother, from personal 
observations and reading the writings of the fathers of the republic, had early 
in life imbibed those principles of anti-slavery which became the ruling feat- 
ure of his political life. Those sentiments grew and strengthened with his 
observations of the effects of slavery in his own country, as well as in those 
countries where it was still tolerated. 

In 1808, by the United States, the slave trade was abolished , in 1820, it 
was made an act of piracy ; in 1818, Netherlands aboli.shed the .slave trade ; 
Spain, in 1820; in 1834, the British Emancipation Act was passed; in 1846, 
Sweden abolished slavery ; in 1848, France and Denmark passed similar 
enactments. In 1861, Nathaniel Gordon, master of the ship Erie, was arrested, 
tried, convicted and executed in New York under the laws making persons 
engaged in the slave trade guilty of piracy. 

The writer has often heard Mr. Lincoln observe, that in a moral and 
personal view he saw but little difference in the magnitude of the crime 
between the captain of the vessel who purchased slaves and carried them 
away from home and friends in Africa to distant countries to spend a life of 
servitude, and the slave trader who purchased the husband or child in 
Virginia and conveyed them, manacled it might be, to work a life of servitude 
on the distant sugar plantations of Louisiana. Thus, from ideas garnered 
from the history of the republic, the increase of the anti-slavery feeling in the 
free States and the march of universal emancipation throughout the civilized 
world, Mr. Lincoln became satisfied that slavery was undergoing a process 
of ultimate extinction, and that would be the result finally in the United 
States ; and feeling and acting under that view of the situation, he said in 
his first speech after his nomination for Senator, in Springfield : "A house 
divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure 
permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, 
I do not expect the house to falU but 1 do expect it will cea.se to be divided." 
The method and means by which this result'would be accomplished he 
believed would be by the prohibition of^the further extension of slavery and 
the moral and christianizing influence, which would eventually lead the citi- 



166 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

zens of the slave holding States to inaugurate and carry out a system of 
emancipation which vi'ould result in its entire extinction. Mr. Lincoln was 
fully in accord with Henry Clay in his views of gradual emancipation, and 
was present at Lexington, in 1846, when he delivered his great speech on that 
subject. Subsequently, Mr. Lincoln, closing one of his speeches, said : 
" Henry Clay, my beau ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all 
my humble life — he, Henry Clay — once said of a class of men who would 
repress all tendencies of liberty and ultimate emancipation, that they must, 
if they do this, go back to the era of our independence and muzzle the cannon 
that thunders the joyous annual return; they must blow out the moral lights 
around us ; they must penetrate the human soul and eradicate there the love 
of liberty ; and then, and not till then, could they perpetuate slavery." 

A short time previous to Mr. Lincoln's first election to the Presidency, in 
an address to Kentuckians, he said, announcing his own principles and those 
of the Republican party in reference to slavery : "I say we must not inter- 
fere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists, because the 
Constitution forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so. 
We must not withhold an efficient fugitive slave law, because the Constitu- 
tion requires us, as I understand it, not to withhold such a law. But we 
must prevent the outspreading of the institution, because neither the Consti- 
tution nor the general welfare requires us to extend it. We must prevent the 
revival of the African slave trade and the Territorial slave code. We must 
prevent each of these things being done by either Congress or Courts." 

These principles enunciated by Lincoln on this occssion were the 
fundamental tenets and dogmas of the Eepublican party on slavery when they 
came into power, and how they were observed will be noted in the succeeding 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE REAL CAUSE OF THE REBELLION — "THE PRESIDENT'S APPEAL. 

At the National Republican Convention that nominated Mr. Lincoln for 
President, the following resolution in the platform was adopted : 

" Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, 
and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic 
institutions according to its own judgment, exclusively, is essential to the 
balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political 
fabric depends, and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of any 
State or Territorj^, no matter under what pretext, as amongst the gravest of 
crimes." 

In the session of Congress in the Winter of 1860-61, which was largely 
Republican, the following resolution was passed : 

" Resolved, That neither the Federal Government, nor the people, or the 
government of the non slave-holding States, have the right to legislate upon 
or interfere with slavery in any of the slave States holding slaves in the 
Union." 

And still further to place the Republican party on positive ground, the 
same Congress passed a resolution recommending such an amendment to the 
Constitution as would forever put it out of the power of the Government or 
the people of the United States. It was in the following words : "Article 13. 
No amendment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize or give 
to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the 
domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service 
by the laws of said State." 

President Lincoln, in his inaugural on the 4th of March, said, referring to 
this amendment to the constitution : '"I have no objection to its being made 
express and irrevocable." The Republican party and the President having 
by their public acts'on record given evidence to the world and to the people 
of the slave States that they were fully committed against all and every inter- 
ference with slavery jn the slave-holding States, it would seem that the South 

167 



168 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

in its unnatural rebellion against the Government was left without any 
excuse. The real cause of the rebellion is to be found not so much in the 
fears of the leaders and public men of the South for the safety of theirpeculiar 
institution as in the loss of the control and jiatronage of the general Govern- 
ment. 

Previous to 1860 and the admission of California into the Union, for half 
a century, with short, rare intervals, the South or slave States, had almost 
unlimited control of the Executive Department and patronage of the Govern- 
ment. They fed largely at the public crib, and they had so long enjoyed this 
highly esteemed favoritism that they had become to look upon it as a right 
established by long use and possession. It is true that the Democracy of the 
free States had shared in a measure in the distribution of public favors, and 
for these their subserviency to the Southern oligarchy was strikingly illus- 
trated during President Buchanan's administration. The admission of Cali- 
fornia left the slave States in a minority, and the subsequent admission of 
Kansas and the prospective admission of other free States, destroyed the last 
lingering hope of slave supremacy in the councils of the Nation. This, and 
the growing public sentiment of the people of the free States, that free terri- 
tory should remain free, were the chief moving causes of the rebellion 
against the Union. 

It may be properly stated here that the South, in its treasonable move- 
ments, had material aid and sympathy from a portion of the press and leaders 
of the Democratic party, or copperheads, as they were styled. For years 
leaders, like President Buchanan, had been its submissive instruments, 
and the influence and numbers of those who secretly aided the South and 
openly espoused its cause did much to inaugurate and encourage the unnatural 
conflict. While this Northern sympathy gave aid and comfort to the secession 
movement, the Southern leaders had no cause to apprehend or fear any inter- 
ference with slavery in the slave States. But in their zeal to fire the hearts 
of the Southern people they ignored the real causes and goaded the people to 
the adoption of desperate measures by the representation of their leaders in 
public addresses, and by the public press, that their dear and peculiar insti- 
tution was really in danger of annihilation. In some of the slave States, 
meetings were held before the Presidential election, in which secession was 
advocated, and the leaders and public men in their public speeches strove 
earnestly to impress the minds of the people that their liberties and their 
peculiar institution were really in danger of being destroyed by the Yankee 
abolitionists, and urged them to arms and resistance against the authority and 
laws of the Union. In this act of resistance to the laws of the National 
Government, the leaders knew full well that their action at home must be 
called secession ; rebellion would not do. They knew that the people 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 169 

possessed too much moral sense, too much devotion to law and order, tix> 
much reverence and pride for the history and Government of their common 
country to engage in rebellion against it. The sophism tliat any State may 
consistently with the National Constitution lawfully and peacably withdraw 
from the Union, without the consent of other sister States, they had been for 
thir|,y years impressing upon the mind of the Southern people, until they had 
brought, by their fallacious reasoning, a large number of citizens to embrace 
it, and to feel a willingness to take up arms against the Government to sup- 
port it. The withdrawal of the States from the Union was secession — State 
rights intensified. The seizure by the State authorities of the property of the 
national Government, forts, mints, custom-houses and the attack on Fort 
Sumpter was rank treason and rebellion against the Government and laws, 
inaugurated and carried into execution before the powers of the Government 
had taken action or measures to prevent those insane and unlawful aggres- 
sions on the Constitution and laws of the United States. 

To state the enormity of the rebellion would be very difficult, as it lias 
no parallel in history. It was wanting in honor, justice or justification. The 
pretext in part was the election of a Republican to the Presidency. This 
excuse loses all its force because the entire South, becoming a party and 
taking a part in the election, bound itself to abide the result. The rebel 
States, by their attack on Fort Sumpter, the seizure of all the property of the 
Government within their borders, the issuing of letters of marque by their 
President to rebel cruisers, authorizing the seizure and confiscation of the 
vessels and property of loyal citizens of the United States on the high seas, 
had thereby severed their relations and obligations to the Federal Govern- 
ment as far as it was possible for them to do, thereby relieving President 
Lincoln of all moral, legal and constitutional obligations to preserve intact 
th.j;ir peculiar institution. Still, the President and Congress, in the special 
session in Julv following, by enactments and resolutions declared that the 
■war for the suppression of the rebellion was waged only to defend and main- 
tain the supremacy of the Constitution and preserve the Union with all the 
dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired, and that as 
soon as these oVjjects were accomplished and secured the war would and 
ought to cease. In the meantime, the war went on and {Congress met in its 
regular session, December, 1861. It was now evident that Congress was dis- 
posed to change its policy relative to the slavery question. The forbearance 
of the Government in regard to slavery had entirely failed to soften the 
hostility of the rebels, and it was now well known that within the rebel lines 
slaves were freely employed in the construction of fortifications, and in 
contributing in this and other ways very largely to the strength of the 
rebellion. The whole country, under the influence of these facts, began to 



170 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

regard slavery as not only the cause of the rebellion, but as the main strength 
for the support of its armies, and the bond of union for the rebel forces. 

Congress, representing and sharing in this feeling, entered promptly and 
zealously upon such measures as this state of affairs would suggest. During 
this session a bill was passed abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, 
also a bill prohibiting slavery or involuntarj^ servitude in any of the Territories 
of the United States. The President, believing that the time was steadily 
approaching when in consequence of this obstinate persistence in rebellion 
the fate of slavery in all the States would necessarily be involved, he wisely 
sought to reconcile the shock which the contest would involve with the order 
of the country, and the permanent prosperity of all classes of the people. 

The people were still disposed to exhaust every means which justice 
would allow in order to withdraw the people of the Southern States from the 
diastrous war in which they were involved by their leaders, and they 
welcomed the following suggestion of the President, which was introduced in 
Congress by Hon. R. Conkling of ISIew York in the shape of the following 
resolution : 

" Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States in Congress assembled. That the United States ought to co-operate with 
any State which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such State 
pecuniary aid to be used by such State in its discretion to compensate for the 
inconvenience, public and private, produced by such change of system." 

This resolution was passed and approved by the President on the 10th 
of April, 1862. It fully recognized the full and complete control of the 
Southern States over slavery within their own limits, and tendered to them 
the aid of the general Government in anj^ steps they might be inclined to 
take to rid themselves of it. It was an offering that might be accepted by 
one State or by all the States. The President, fully believing that the war if 
long continued would result in the entire extinction of slavery, on the 12th 
day of July called the members of Congress from the loyal border States to a 
conference at the Executive Mansion and urged them to take steps for emanci- 
pation in their respective States under the resolution before mentioned. 
Among other arguments which he used, he said: "You are patriots and 
statesmen, and as such I pray you consider this proposition, and at least 
commend it to the consideration of your States and people. As you would 
perpetuate popular Government for the best people in the world, I beseech 
you that you do in no wise omit this. Our common country is in great peril, 
demanding the loftiest views and boldest action, to bring speedy relief. 
Once relieved, its form of government is saved to the world, its beloved 
history and cherished memories are vindicated, and its happy future assured 






OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 171 

and rendei'ed inconceivably grand. To you more than to any others the 
privilege is given to assure that happiness and swell that grandeur." 

Events were now rapidly bringing the people to the inevitable conclusion 
that if the war was long continued slavery would give way to freedom. The 
President endeavored, as well by his official acts as by his earnest appeal to 
the patriotism of the loyal slave States, to induce and persuade them to 
embrace the offer of the Government for compensation for their slaves in the 
event of their taking measures for their emancipation. But they rejected the 
generous offer — turned away from the entreaties of the President until freedom 
came, with the loss which he saw would ultimately and necessarily follow. 

As I write those words of entreaty and patriotism to the represen- 
tatives of the loyal slave States by the President, I look out and see the grand 
old flag of our country at half mast in every part of the city. It is Decoration 
Day. This day, the resting place of the good President and thousands of 
brave men who gave their lives for the preservation of our beloved Union 
and for the security and happiness of future ages will be decorated and 
consecrated by loyal hands and hearts, and the decorations of the graves of 
the heroic dead by those emblems of beauty, love, peace and affection which 
soften and sanctify our memories for the departed, reach out in trust and 
assure us of hope and confidence for the future. We are reminded of our 
duty and the occasion by the martyrd President, who said, "It is right for 
us to be here dedicated to the great task before us, that from these honored 
dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last 
full measure of devotion ; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall 
not have died in vain ; that this Nation under God shall have a new birth of 
freedom, and that the Government of the people, by the people and for the 
people, shall not perish from the earth." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 

The acts of Congress and those of the President, together with the Presi- 
dent's revocation of the proclamations of General Fremont of August 31, 1861, 
and that of General Hunter of May 9, 1862, issued in their respective depart- 
ments, freeing the slaves therein, is conclusive evidence that up to this time, 
July, 1862, the prosecution of the war against the rebels was waged only for the 
restoration of the National authority, and for the security and perpetuity of 
the Union. The Act of Congress offering compensation to any State that 
would favor emancipation was intended more particularly for the loyal slave 
States, although any rebel State could partake of its benefits by return to 
the Union. In the revocation of General Hunter's order by the President, is 
one of the most touching and beautiful appeals ever written. In that paper, 
the President, referring to the Act of Congress pledging the Nation to com- 
pensation, said : " To the people of those States I now earnestly appeal. I 
do not argue, I beseech you to make the argument yourselves ; you cannot, if 
you would, be blind to the signs of the times. I beg of you a calm and enlarged 
consideration of them, ranging, it may be, far above personal or partisan 
politics. This proposal makes common cause for a common object, casting no 
reproaches on any. It acts not the Pharisee. The changes it contemplates 
would come gently as the dews of Heaven — not rending or breaking anything. 
Will you not embrace it? So much good has not been done by one effort in 
all past time as in the providence of God it is now your high privilege to do. 
May the vast future not have to lament that you have neglected it." 

The loyal people were becoming restive and tired of the Government's 
protection of slavery in the rebel States, and they had just reasons to be so. 
The President knew and felt this, but he could not forsake the friends of the 
Union in the border States until he had saved them, and saved them for the 
Union. And it is worthy of remark here, that while the rebel leaders were 
teaching and telling their people that the war was being waged against them 
for the destruction of slavery, at the same time the rebel emisaries in 
172 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 173 

England were striving to effect the public sentiment there against the Union 
by representing that President Lincoln was, by his revocation of the orders 
of Generals Fremont and Hunter, endeavoring to save slavery with the 
Union. 

The subject of emancipation which President Lincoln pressed upon the 
members of Congress from the loyal slave States at the Executive Mansion 
elicited a reply from a number of them. The following is an extract from 
their response : " But, on the other hand, we meet your address in the spirit 
in which it was made, and as loyal Americans declare to you and to the 
world that there is no sacrifice that we are not willing to make to save the 
Government and institutions of our fathers; that we, few of us it may be, 
will not permit any man from the North or South to go further than we in the 
accomplishment of the great work before us. That in order to carry out our 
views, we will, so far as it may be in our power, ask the people of the border 
States to calmly, deliberately and fairly consider your recommendations. 
We are the more emboldened to assume this position from the fact now 
become history, that the leaders of the Southern rebellion have offered to 
abolish slavery amongst them as a condition of foreign intervention in favor 
of their independence as a nation. If they can give up slavery to destroy the 
Union, we can surely ask our people to consider the question to save the 
Union." 

The President, with thousands of citizens of the free States, realized fully 
the fact that the attack of the rebels on Fort Sumpter at that time decided at 
once and forever the fate of slavery in the United States. The constitutional 
obligations of the Government in reference to that institution had by the act 
of the rebels been dissolved, and its extinction or gradual emancipation 
was now demanded by the people ; and the President, having now done all he 
could accomyjlish by personal appeals and oflBcial action for the loyal citizens 
in the border States, was now prepared to take measures and act as the 
indications of the public mind demanded. Two other important measures 
received the attention of Congress during this session. One was a bill author- 
izing the issue of treasury notes to the amount of one hundred and fifty 
millions of dollars, and the other was the enactment of a law confiscating the 
property of the rebels. One of the distinctive features of this bill was section 
6 which prescribed, " That any person being engaged in the rebellion who 
should not, within sixty days after public proclamation duly made by the 
President, cease to aid the rebellion, should have his property confiscated in 
the manner provided." The passage of this bill was a verjMmportant step 
in the prosecution of the war for the suppression of the rebellion. It gave 
the rebels to understand distinctly that one of the penalties, if they persisted 



174 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

in their resistance to the authority of the United States, would be the emanci- 
pation of their slaves. 

Congress adjourned on the 17th of July, having passed many measures 
of marked, though of minor importance, besides those mentioned to aid in 
the prosecution of the war. Public sentiment sustained the action of Congress 
and the President as adapted to the emergency. After the adjournment of 
Congress the demands of the people for immediate and unconditional emanci- 
pation became clamorous and importune. The President was called upon to 
avail himself of the opportunity offered by the passage of the Confiscation 
Bill to declare the instant liberation of every slave belonging to a rebel 
master. 

Those demands were embodied with force and effect in a letter to the 
President from Horace Greeley, published in the New York Tribune on the 
19th of August, 1862. A portion of the President's reply is here subjoined : 
" My paramount object is to save the Union, and not either to save or destroy 
slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it. 
If I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it ; and if I could do it 
by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do 
about slavery and the colored race I do because I believe it helps to save this 
Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help 
to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing 
hurts the cause, and I shall do more when I believe doing more will help the 
cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall 
adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here 
stated my purpose according to my views of official duty, and I intend no 
modification of my oft-expressed personal wish, that all men everywhere 
could be free." 

Previous to this answer of the President to the Greeley letter, the draft of 
the emancipation proclamation had been written, but the time for its sub- 
mission to the Cabinet for its approval, in the opinion of the President, had 
' not yet arrived. There can be no doubt as to the President's policy by which 
he expected to re-establish the authority of the Constitution over the whole 
of the United States. His " paramount object " in every thing he did was to 
*' save the Union." The question of slavery was a secondary consideration. 
He delayed, therefore, for a long time the issue of such a proclamation as he 
was authorized to make by the sixth section of the Confiscation Act of 
Congress — awaiting the development of public sentiment on the subject — 
waiting for the assurance that it would receive the sup])ort of the great body 
of the people of the country without regard to party. In tlie month of August 
the President called a Cabinet meeting. None of the members knew the 
object of the meeting, but all were present. After some delay the President 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 175 

arose and announced the object of the meeting. He liad written a prochima- 
tion of emancipation, and had determined to issue it. He had not called 
them to ask their advice on the general question, because he had determined 
that for himself. He wished to inform them of his purpose, and to receive 
such suggestions on minor points as tliey might be moved to make. All 
approved the measure except Postmaster Blair, who thought there should be 
deferred action, at least until after the Fall elections. Secretary Chase 
thought the language could be made stronger, particularly in reference to 
arming and employing the blacks in the armies of the Union. No particular 
suggestions were made by other members of the Cabinet, except by Secretary 
Seward. He said : " Mr. President, I approve the proclamation, but I ques- 
tion the expediency of its issue at this juncture. I think the measure should 
be delayed until it can be given to the countr)^, upheld by military success." 
Secretary Seward further remarked, that the issue at this time, while the 
country was in a state of excitement from the disastrous failure of the Army 
of the Potomac, would be claimed by the friends of disunion that the admin- 
istration were driven to the pressing need of turning to the colored element 
for help and assistance. The President felt the force and point of the argu- 
ment of the Secretary, and it was understood, on the adjournment of the 
Cabinet, that the time of its issue would remain in abeyance for a short 
period. This meeting of the Cabinet was held at the time General McClellan 
and the army had reached Harrison's landing on James river after the seven 
days' fighting and retreat from the Chicahominy. The proclamation was 
held in suspense from that time until after the battle of JAntietam, which was 
fought on the 17th of September. On the 22d of September, 1862, the 
preparatory proclamation was issued. It was a notice to the country 
and to the rebels showing what it was his purpose to do in reference 
to slavery if the rebellion against the Government was continued. The rebels 
were clearly informed and notified that unless they laid down their arms and 
returned to the Union before the 1st day of January, 1863, their slaves should 
be then and forever free. This proclamation caused a lull in the intense 
controversy in reference to the President's duty in regard to slavery. All 
parties were now looking for and anxiously awaiting to see what its effects 
would be on the States in rebellion and on the Fall elections. This procla- 
mation was received with intense interest by all parties. The Republicans 
were well pleased. The Union Democrats admitted the necessity of the 
measure, while the opponents of the administration in the loyal States as well 
as those in sympathy with treason everywhere, insisted that the object of the 
war was not so much for the restoration of the Union as the abolition of 
slavery. The fruits of the proclamation became an anchor to the administra- 
tion, and the results were glorious and satisfactory to the country, to every 



176 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

lover of the Union, and to the lovers of freedom throughout the world. The 
first proclamation is as follows : 

"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, and 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and 
declare that hereafter as heretofore the war will be prosecuted for the object 
of practically restoring the constitutional relations between the United States 
and each of the States, and the people thereof, in which States that relation 
is or may be suspended or disturbed. 

" That it is Jmy purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again 
recommend the adoption of a practical measure tending pecuniary aid to the 
free acceptance or rejection of all the slave States so-called, the people 
whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which 
States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily 
adopt, the immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within tiieir respective 
limits ; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their 
consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained 
consent of the governments existing there, will be continued. 

" That on the first day of January, in tlie year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or 
any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall there be in rebellion 
against the United States, shall be then thenceforward and forever free ; and 
the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and 
naval authority thereof will recognize and maintain tlie freedom of such 
persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, 
in any effort they may make for their actual freedom. 

" That the execution will, on the Ist day of January aforesaid, by procla- 
mation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people 
thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and 
the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith 
represented in the Congress of the United States. 

" That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress entitled ' An Act 
to make an additional article of war,' ai)proved ilarch 13, 1862, and which 
Act is in the words and figures following: 

' Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, that hereafter the following shall 
be promulgated as an additional article of war for the Covernment of the 
United States, and shall be obeyed and observed as such : 

' Article . All officers or persons in the military or naval service of 

the United States are prohibited from using any of the forces under their respec- 
tive commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who 
may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 177 

to be due ; and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court martial of 
violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. 

* Section 2. And be it further enacted, that this Act shall take effect from 
and after its passage.' 

" Also to the ninth and ten sections of an Act entitled An Act to suppress 
insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property 
of rebels, and for other purposes, approved July 16, 1862, and which sections 
are in the words and figures as following, to wit : 

' Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persons who shall 
hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United 
States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereunto, escaping from 
such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army ; and all slaves 
captured from such persons, or deserted by them, and coming under the 
control of the Government of the United States; and all slaves found or being 
within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by forces 
of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever 
free of their servitudes, and not again held as slaves. 

' Sec. 10. And be it further enacted. That no slave escaping into any 
State, Territory or the District of Columbia, from any other State, shall be 
delivered up or in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for 
crime or some offense against the laws, unless the person claiming said 
fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whoip the labor or service of 
sucli fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne 
arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given 
aid and comfort thereunto ; and no person engaged in the military or naval 
service of the United States shall, under any pretense whatever, assume to 
decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of 
any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain 
of being dismissed from the service.' 

"And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the 
military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey and enforce, 
within their respective sphere of service, the Act and sections above recited. 

" And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the 
United States who shall have remained loyal thereunto througliout the 
rebellion shall (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation between 
the United States and their respective States and people, if that relation shall 
have been suspended or destroyed) be compensated for all losses by acts of 
the United States, including the loss of slaves. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this 22d 



178 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

day of September, in the the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty- 
seventh. Abraham Lincoln. 

" Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

In the meantime the one hundred days passed away, and on the 1st day 
of January, 1863, the final proclamation of emancipation was issued, and the 
great act was complete. It is as follows : 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
by virtue of the jiower in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the army and 
navy of the United States, in time of actual rebellion against the authority of 
the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing 
said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose 
so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the 
day of the first above mentioned, order designated as the States and parts of 
States wherein the people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against 
the United States, the following, to wit: Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except 
the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, 
St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Renne, Lafouche, St. Mary, St. 
Martin and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, 
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia (except the 
forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of 
Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, P^lizabeth City, York, Princess Ann and 
Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted 
parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued. 
And by virtue of the power and fur the purposes aforesaid, I do order and 
declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts 
of States are and henceforth shall be free ; and that the Executive Govern- 
ment of the United States, including the military and naval authorities 
thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons. 

" And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free, to abstain 
from all violence, unless in necessary self-defense ; and I recommend to 
them, that in all cases, when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable 
wages. 

" And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable 
condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to 
garrison forts, stations and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in 
said service. 

" And upon this act, sincerely believing it to be an act of justice, warranted 
by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judg- 
ment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 179 

" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of 
the United States to be aflixed. Done at the city of Washington this 1st day 
of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun(h-ed and sixty- 
three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty- 
seventh. Abraham Lincoln." 

" AVm. H. Seward, Secretary of State." 

F. B. Carpenter, who painted the memorable scene of the first reading in 
Cabinet council of the Emancipation Proclamation, says : 

" First, is the ' Magna Charter ' wrested by the Barons of England from 
King John; second, the Declaration of Independence; and third, worthy to 
be placed upon the tablets of history, side by side with the two first is 
Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation." 

Bishop Simpson said, as he was about to commit the remains of its author 
to t!ie tomb : 

" May we not assert that Abraham Lincoln, by his proclamation, liberated 
more enslaved people than Moses set free, and those not of his kindred or 
race. Such a power or such an opportunity, God has seldom given to man. 
When other events shall have been forgotten, when this world shall become 
a net work of republics, when every throne shall be swept from the face of the 
earth, when literature shall enlighten all minds, when the claims of humanity 
shall be recognized everywhere, this act shall still be conspicuous in the ages 
of history. We are thankful that God gave Abraham Lincoln the decision, 
wisdom and grace to issue that proclamation, which stands'high above all 
other papers which have been penned by uninspired men." 

On one of the iiublic squares in the Nation's capital stands a bronze 
group entitled " Emancipation." President Lincoln, holding in his hand the 
Emancipation Proclamation, looks tenderly down on a poor kneeling slave to 
whom he reaches a helping hand. The whips and the broken manacles of 
slavery lie scattered around. It is the finest piece of statuary that adorns 
the capital grounds, and was erected from funds given by the liberated slaves. 
The first contribution was from Charlotte Scott, a freed woman, who gave 
five dollars, being her first earnings in freedom and consecrate 1 by her on 
the day she heard of Lincoln's death, to build a monument to his memory. 
The pen of the historian is here powerless to express the blissful gratitude 
and the exultant joy of the long oppressed race as they gaze on this symbol 
of their freedom, and raise their tearful eyes to him who lifted them from the 
degradation of slavery to upright manhood. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

REASONS FOB EMANCIPATION — BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 

The position and action of President Lincoln in regard to his policy and 
treatment of slavery was peculiar. Had he taken, council of his own abstract 
opinions and sympathies and proclaimed emancipation at the beginning of the 
rebellion, and ratified the action of tliose department officers who assumed 
to do it themselves, the first effect would, without doubt, have been to have 
driven all the border States into union with the rebellious States, and have 
added their large forces to the armies of the Confederacy. Further results 
would have been to arouse the political opposition in the loyal States to 
renewed activity by giving it a fresh pretext for its secession, utterances and 
sentiments, and would have divided the great body of those who agreed in 
defending the Union, but who did not agree in regard to the abolition of 
slavery. Candid men who pay more regard to facts than to theory, and who 
can estimate with fairness the results of public action, will see that the 
probable results of these several influences would have given great strength 
to the Confederacy, and so have weakened the Union cause as to have 
overpowered the administration and have given to the rebellion success 
and victory. Time, the development of events, the ripening conviction 
of the necessity of such a measure were indispensable as preliminary 
conditions of its success, and by the aw^aiting of and - the development 
of public opinion President Lincoln secured a support absolutely essen- 
tial to success ; and there are but few persons to be found, whatever may be 
their private opinion as to slavery, who will not concede that his measures in 
reference to that subject were adopted with sagacity, and prosecuted to 
completion with a {vatient wisdom which crowned them with final success. 
In the treatment of this subject, as upon every other, he aimed at practical 
results instead of indulgence in tbeory. He used no power over slavery until 
the necessity had arisen by which alone its exercise under the Constitution 
could be vindicated, and he went no further and no faster in the steps he 

took for its abolishment than public sentiment would warrant and sustain 
180 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 181 

him in doing. His policy secured the final abolition of slavery. It not only 
decreed the result but it secured it in such a way and by such successive 
steps each demanded by the special exigency of its own occasion as to com- 
mand the acquiescence of most of the slave States. 

The President, in his letter of April 4, 1864, to Mr. Hodges of Kentucky, 
states with characteristic force the motives by which his action had been 
governed. He said: "I did understand, however, that the very oath to 
preserve the Constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the 
duty of preserving by every indispensable means that Government — that 
Nation of which the Constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to 
lose the Nation and yet preserve the Constitution ? By general law, life and 
limb must be protected ; yet often a limb must be amputated to save life, but 
a Ufe is not wisely given to save a limb. I feel that measures otherwise 
unconstitutional might become lawful by becoming indispensable to the 
preservation of the Constitution through the preservation of the Nation. 

" Right or wrong I assumed this ground, and now I avow it. I could not 
feel to the best of my ability I had ever tried to preserve the Constitution if 
to preserve slavery or any minor matter I should permit the wreck of Govern- 
ment, country and Constitution altogether. 

" When early in the war General Fremont attempted military emanci- 
pation I forbade it because I did not think it an indispensable necessity. 
When still later General Hunter attempted military emancipation, I again 
forbade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had 
come. 

" When in March, May and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive 
appeals to the border States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed 
the indispensable necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks 
would come unless averted by that measure. 

" They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven 
to the alternative of either surrendering the Union and with it the Consti- 
tution, or laying strong hands on the colored element. I chose the latter." 

After the battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862, in which the Union 
army under General Burnside suffered a severe repulse, the Army of the 
Potomac remained inactive for several months. The military movements 
and events of 1863 were of signal importance, and the result gave hope and 
confidence to the loyal people of the Union. On the 24th of January General 
Burnside was relievtd by the appointment of General Hooker to the command 
of the Army of the Potomac ; but the inclemency of the season prevented any 
movement of the army until the 17th of April, when General Hooker, with 
three divisions of his army, crossed the Rappahanock and reached Chancellor- 
ville. General Stoneman had been sent with a strong cavalry to break the 



182 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

railroads in the rear of the rebel army. In the meantime, a fourth division 
of the army had crossed the river and joined the army at Chancellorville, 
leaving one division under General Sedgwick opposite Fredericksburg. On the 
2d day of May the left of the rebel army under General Jackson attacked the 
right of the Union army and gained a decided advantage of position, which 
was recovered before the day closed. In this day's battle General Stonewall 
Jackson was mortally wounded. The battle was renewed the next day ; the 
advantage remained with the enemy. In the meantime, General Sedgwick 
crossed the river with his division and occupied Fredericksburg, and attacked 
and carried the rebel fortifications on the heights in rear of the city. In 
consequence of the Union reverses at Chancellorville, on the night of the 5th 
General Hooker withdrew his army to the north bank of the river, having 
sustained a severe loss of men, killed and prisoners. 

Both armies remained inactive until June 9, when it was ascertained that 
General Lee, with the rebel army, was moving up through the Shenandoah 
valley. They pressed General Milroy back on Harper's Ferry, and on the 
14th of June the rebel army began to cross the Potomac and advanced to 
Hagerstown, Maryland, with the evident intention of invading Pennsylvania. 
This movement of the rebel army created the most intense excitement 
throughout the country. President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 
one hundred thousand men from the States most directly menaced, New 
York being called upon for twenty thousand. As soon as the movement of 
the rebel forces from Fredericksburg was discovered, the Union army marched* 
northward on a line parallel with the enemy, and on the 27th of June the 
Union army reached Frederick City, Maryland, being interposed between the 
rebel army and Baltimore and Washington, and were prepared to follow them 
into Pennsylvania. fiOn the 27th General Hooker was relieved from the com- 
mand of the army at his own request and the appointment was conferred on 
General Meade, who at once ordered an advance into Pennsylvania in the 
direction of Harrisburg, which place the rebels were rapidly approaching. 
On the 1st day of July, the Union army advance, consisting of the first and 
eleventh army corps under command of Generals Reynolds and Howard, 
came in contact with the enemy's advance in force near the town of Gettys- 
burg, and attacked them with success. The rebels being reinforced later in 
the day, the Union forces were compelled to fall back to Cemetery hill, under 
General Howard, and await reinforcements. In this engagement General 
Reynolds was killed, and the advantage remained with the enemy. During 
the night, the second, third, fifth and twelfth corps arrived and were posted 
around and on Cemetery ridge to support the first and eleventh corps. 
At 2 o'clock p. M. on the second day the sixth corps arrived after a march of 
thirty-two miles, and were placed in reserve. At 3 o'clock p. m. the battle 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 183 

was opened by a furious and determined onset by Lee, whose forces were 
massed in great strength on Seminary ridge about one mile in front of the 
Union troops. The attack was made upon the third corps, which was the left 
of the Union line, by the rebels, with all their enthusiastic bravado. The 
third corps met the shock with heroic firmness. General Sickels was severely 
wounded early in the action, and General Birney, who succeeded in com- 
mand of the third corps, was finally pressed back in line with the Union 
forces, which position General Meade intended General Sickels with the 
third corps should have occupied early in the day. Here, aided by the first 
and sixth corps, the position was held until sunset, when the enemy was 
repelled with loss, leaving our troops in the position that General Meade 
intended they should hold. A desperate attempt was made by the enemy to 
take and hold Round Top, the left of the Union position, but General Sykes, 
with the fifth corps, was enabled, after a severe and bloody contest, to repulse 
the enemy and hold the hill against the repeated attempts to take it. On the 
Union's right the withdrawal of a division from Slocum's corps enabled 
Ewell with a superior force to crowd back Slocum considerably and seize 
some of the rifle pits ; but this attack of the enemy on the Union forces gave 
them no advantage. The battle of the second day closed at dark ; the results 
of the day gave the rebels encouragement and hopes that favorable results 
would follow, but subsequent events proved that their anticipations were 
illusive. 

Lee, in his official report says: "After a severe struggle, Longstreet 
succeeded in getting possession of and holding the desired ground. Ewell 
also carried some of the strong positions which he assailed, and the result 
was such as to lead to the belief that he would be able to dislodge the enemy. 
The battle ceased at dark. These partial successes determined me to continue 
the assault the next day." 

The battle opened the next morning, July 3, on the right of the Union 
line, where Slocum — his division having returned from the left of the Union 
line — pressed his corps forward to retake the rifle pits. He was successful, 
and after a severe contest, he re-established his line and held it during the 
day. Not here, but on the Union center, was the last, final elfort to be made 
by the rebels to secure and maintain a foothold on free soil. They seemed to 
apprehend that their failure this day would decide the fate of theiir Con- 
federacy. In the meantime Lee had reinforced Longstreet with three fresh 
brigades under Pickett, a division from Ewell, and two divisions from Hill's 
corps. The rebel left was firmly established, and its batteries planted on the 
ridge whence the Union forces had been forced back the previous day. Tlio 
Union line was prepared for the coming contest. The Union soldiers were 
silent but anxious spectators, while the rebels were making their preparations 



184 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

and planting their batteries for the supreme effort which was to decide the 
momentus issue — the unity of the Nation and fate of the Southern Confederacy. 
The forenoon was one of anxious expectation in the Union lines, occasionally 
broken bj' futile firing here and there along the line. The rebels having 
finished their preparations, at 1 p. m. the signal was given and one hundred 
and twenty-five guns from Longstreet and Hill's front opened their fire on 
the Union center and left, which was continued without intermission over 
two hours. The Union artillery replied, while the infantry, availing them- 
selves of every means of shelter from the iron hail, awaited patiently the 
expected charge, and at 3 p. m., from behind the rebel batteries came their 
infantry in line of battle, 18,000 strong, preceded by skirmishers, and sup- 
ported by a line of reserves, moving rapidly to the charge upon Cemetery 
hill, especially upon the front extending on the left to Round Top. The 
result is graphically described by Agate: "The final struggle, the last 
great, desperate charge, came at 4 p. m. The rebels hud gathered up all their 
strength for one fierce convulsive effort that should creep over and crush out 
the very existence of the Union army. They swept up to the contest, the 
flower of their army to the front, victory staked on the issue. In some places 
they lifted up and pushed back the Union line, but that secure position of 
our troops was firmly held. Wherever the enemy entered it infilading fires 
from half a score of crests swept away their columns like chaff. Broken and 
hurled back, they easily fell into the hands of the Union boys, and on the 
center and left the last half hour brought more prisoners than all the rest. 
So it was along the whole line ; but it was on the second corps that the flower 
of the rebel army was concentrated. It was there that the heaviest shock beat 
upon and sometimes crumbled the Union line. Here came Pickett's 
splendid division of Longstreet's corps in front, and the best of Hill's veterans 
in support. They came steadily and, as it seemed, resistlessly sweeping up. 
From a hundred guns their artillery had covered their approach. Hancock 
was wounded. Gibbons, an approved soldier, and ready for the crisis, suc- 
ceeded to the command. As the tempest of fire approached its height, he 
walked along the line, renewing his orders to the men to reserve their fire. 
The rebels — then three lines deep — came steadily up. They were in point blank 
range. At last the order came. From tlirice six thousand guns there came 
a sheet of flame, a crash, a rush of leaden death. The line melted away, but 
there came the second line, resistless still. The first had been our supreme 
effort ; at the instant, the Union boys were not equal to another. Over the 
barricades, the momentum of their charge swept them on. Our thin lines 
could fight, but it had not the strength to oppose this momentum — it was 
pushed behind the guns. Right on came the rebels, but they had come too 
far ; a storm of grape and cannister tore its way from man to man, and marked 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 185 

its track with the fallen straijjht down their line. This exposure of their line 
to the Union artilery had sealed their fate. The line fell back, disjointed 
already. The Union boys were just behind the guns. They spang forward 
upon the broken column, but there was little need of fighting now. A 
regiment threw down their arms and colors ; all along the line smaller detach- 
ments did the same. Webb's brigade brought in eight hundred prisoners. 
Gibbons took fifteen stand of colors. Over the field the escaped fragments of 
the charging line fell back — the battle was over." 

The rebels found that it was a fatal, fruitless sacrifice. It was not a rout, 
it was a bitter, crushing defeat. For once and the first time the Army of the 
Potomac had won an acknowledged, honest and dearly bought victory. 
This battle was the most severe and hotlv contested of the war, and the 
losses on both sides for the number engaged has no parallel in any engage- 
ment. The Union loss was 23,286 killed and wounded — one-fourth of the 
number engaged. The rebel loss was much larger in killed and wounded, 
and 13,621 prisoners; one-third of their effective force was killed, wounded 
and prisoners. 

On the morning of the 4th of July the President issued the following : 
" Washington, July 4, 11:30 a.m. The President announces to the country 
that news from the Army of the Potomac up to 10 o'clock, p. m. is such as to 
cover the army with the highest honor, to promise a great success to the 
cause of the Union, and to claim condolence for the many gallant fallen ; and 
that for this he especially desires on this day. He whose will, not ours, should 
ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest 
gratitude." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

lee's retreat — CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG — BRAGG'S DEFEAT. 

As the smoke of the battle drifts away over the town of Gettysburg, 
fancy pictures standing on the crest of Cemetery ridge, the genius of Cohimbia, 
as slie looks with sadness over the field of battle, and views the dead and 
wounded numbered by thousands, and in her imagination is vividly painted 
the tens of thousands of widows and orphans made in the terrible conflict. 
She turns to the soldier in gray and asks, " Why this unnatural and deadly 
strife between brothers and countrymen? Why is our heretofore peaceful 
and happy country drenched in fratricidal blood? " The soldier turns away 
as he answers : " It is for the security, perpetuity and extention of slavery." 
To the soldier in blue she turns and the same questions are propounded. 
The soldier in V)lue answers: "For Nationality, Government and law, for 
the Constitution, for freedom and for humanity." And as hope now irradi- 
cates the countenance in place of sadness, the gentle twilight steals on apace, 
and the illusion vanishes, and darkness comes on over the field of battle, and 
the stillness is broken only by the measured tread of the sentinel, and the 
click of the ambulance wheels as they slowly roll to the hospitals with their 
mangled burdens. Midnight has come, and all is still save the sound of the 
wind passing over the battlefield with its weird, sibilant voice singing a 
requiem to the unburied dead who await the rites of sepulture on the 
morrow. On the morning of the 4th of July the Union army were in position 
ready for the enemy, should they be disposed to renew the conflict. But 
General Lee found that his troops had been so badly punished that a renewal 
of the battle would result more disastrously than on the preceding day. The 
roll call on the morning of the 4th showed that his veterans, the flower of 
his army, were missing, killed, wounded or prisoners, and in a council of his 
officers, called on the morning of the 4th, it was advised to retreat, and, if 
possible, save the remnant of the army by reaching and crossing the Potomac. 
On the night of the 4th the retreat commenced, and pursuit was made by the 
186 



OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 187 

Union army on the 5th and was continued without brin<^ing on an engagement 
until the rebels reached their former position on the Rappahannock. 

In December, 1862, General N. T. Banks, appointed to succeed General 
Butler in the miUtary department of Louisiana, arrived at New Orleans with 
a large force, and at once took possession of Baton Rouge. On tlie 21 st of 
December General Sherman started for Memphis with his command, and 
passed down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Yazoo, above Vicksburg, 
ascended that river, landed, and made an attack on Vicksburg from the rear. 
The fighting continued for three days, and the army advanced to within two 
miles of the city, but on the 30th they were repulsed with severe loss. On 
the 2d of January General McClernard arrived and assumed command, and 
the taking of Vicksburg for the time seemed hopeless. The capture of 
Arkansas Post redeemed the failure in some degree. In February, General 
Grant having been placed in command, the attack on Vicksburg was to be 
renewed. Various plans'and measures were undertaken to get in the rear of 
the place so as to command the river above and below, but they were all 
abandoned, and General Grant determined with his vessels to boldly run down 
the river, by the city and the rebel batteries, which he did successfully, and 
marched his army down on the opposite side to Brueassburg, sixty- 
five miles below Vicksburg, where he crossed on the 30th of April, and 
advanced upon Fort Gibson, where he was opposed by General Bowen, 
who was defeated with a loss of killed, wounded and prisoners of fifteen 
hundred men. General Grant then marched with his army upward 
towards Vicksburg, and again met the enemy at Raymond, May 12th, and 
the defeated them, with a loss of eight hundred men. On May 14th 
Union forces near Jackson met the rebels under J. E. Johnson. The 
enemy was defeated, and the capital of the State of Mississippi, with 
seventeen pieces of artillery and large stores of supplies, was captured. 
General Grant then turned his course west for Vicksburg. General Pemberton, 
the commander of that city, advanced with his forces with the hope of checking 
his advance, but he was. defeated on the 16th at Baker's creek, losing four 
thousand men and twenty-nine pieces of artillery. On the next day the same 
forces were overtaken at Big Black Bridge, ten miles from Vicksburg, and 
defeated with a loss of 2(i00 men and seventeen pieces of artillery. On the 
18th Vicksburg was closely invested, a»nd the rebels were completely shut up 
within the city. An attempt was made to carry the enemy's work by storm, 
but the assault failed, and a regular siege was at once adopted by the land 
forces, in which the armed vessels in the river joined. The investment was 
pressed with much vigor, and the Union works were drawing closer every 
daj'. The enemy was known to be short of supplies, and their only hope was 
that General Johnson would be able to collect an armv sufficient to raise the 



188 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICKS 

siege by attacking Grant in his rear. General Grant had provided for this 
emergency by ordering General Sherman to pay his respects to General 
Johnson and counteract any movement on the part of that General to relieve 
Vicksburg. General Sherman performed that duty so effectually that no 
serious attempt was made to relieve the enemy. With no prospect of succor, 
General Pemberton therefore proposed to surrender Vicksljurg on the morning 
of the 4th of July, on condition that his troops should be permitted to march 
out. General Grant refused, and demanded an absolute surrender of the 
garrison as prisoners of war. General Pemberton called a council of his 
officers, and acceded to the terms demanded by General Grant. 

The historian states that the Union loss from the time General Grant ran 
hy Vicksburg up to the time of its capture was, killed, 1343 ; wounded, 7095 ; 
missing, 535 ; total, 8773. The rebel loss was, killed and wounded, 10,000 ; 
prisoners, 43,000 ; missing, 3000 ; total, 56,000 ; 220 cannons and 70,000 stands 
of small arms. The Union was now receiving back a portion of the guns and 
small arms sent South during President Buchanan's administration. The 
surrender of Vicksburg was immediately followed by that of Port Hudson, 
Tvhich surrendered to Banks July 8th, with 7000 prisoners and fifty cannons 
and a large quantity of small arms. The value of these captures was not 
estimated by the list of prisoners and the number of small arms, but by the 
iact tha the Confederacy was cut in twain. And as President Lincoln said, 
"' The father of waters goes unvexed to the sea." General Sherman said: 
" The two victories occurring at the same time, the one at Gettysburg 
defensive and the other at Vicksburg offensive, should have ended the 
war; but the rebel leaders were mad, and seemed determined that their 
people should drink the very lowest dregs of the cup of war, which they 
themselves had prepared." Writing in reference to the capture of Vicks- 
burg, he said: "The campaign of' Vicksburg, in its conception and exe- 
cution, belongs exclusively to General Grant, not only in the great whole, 
but in the thousands of its details. I still retain many of his letters and notes, 
all in his own handwriting, prescribing the routes for march for divisions 
and detachments, specifying even the amount of food and tools to be carried 
along. Many persons gave his Adjutant-General, Rawlins, credit for these 
things, but they were in error, for no Commanding General of an army gave 
more of his personal attention to detail, or wrote so many of his own orders 
a.8 General Grant. His success at Vicksburg justly gave him great fame at 
home and abroad. The President conferred on him the rank of Major- 
Oeneral in the regular army, then existing by law, and General McPherson 
and I shared in his success by receiving similar commissions as Brigadier- 
Generals in the regular army." 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 189 

These victories gave great satisfaction and encouragement to the Presi- 
dent and to the loyal citizens of the Union, and left no doubt now of the final 
success and triumph of the National cause. A very characteristic utterance of 
the President in connection with these events was a letter written to General 
Granton the 13th of July, in which the President took occasion to acknowledge 
that results had confirmed the General's judgment rather than his own : "My 
Dear General — I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write 
this now as a grateful acknowledgement for the almost inestimable service 
you have done the country. 1 write to say a word further. When you first 
reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally 
did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, 
and thus go below — and I never had any faith, except a general hope that 
you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could 
succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf and 
vicinity, I thought you should go below and down the river and join General 
Banks; and when you turned noith ward, east of the Big Black, I feared it 
was a mistake. I wish now to make the personal acknowledgement that you 
were right and I was wrong." This commendation of General Grant was but 
the echo of the voice of the whole country and people. The President, as 
well as the whole country, felt that one man at least had been found who 
was thoroughly in earnest, and who was nuister of his profession. The 
capture of Vicksburg, with its preliminary battles, was the work of a great 
general, and one of the most important, as well as the most brilliant and suc- 
cessful, feats of the war. 

While General Grant was engaged at Vicksburg, General Rosecrans was 
paying his respects to the rebel General, Bragg, in Tennessee. On the 25th of 
June, General Rosecrans advanced on the enemy at Tullahoma, made an 
attack, driving Bragg and his army back -in confusion, and he kept his retreat 
until he reached Chattanooga. Rosecrans came up with him August 21st, and 
then Bragg retreated again, but on the 19th of September, having received 
reinforcements from Lee's army, he turned and made an attac^k on the Union 
army. The engagement was a severe one ; a portion of the Union army was 
compelled to fall back in confusion, but General Thomas, with his division, 
held the enemy at bay until night, when he fell back, and the Union army- 
was for some time shut up in Chattanooga. The loss in this engagement was 
very heavy on both sides. But the rebels gained no decisive advantage. In 
October, General Rosecrans was superceded by General Grant, who assumed 
the offensive. The army of Tennessee was reinforced by General Hooker's 
command from the Army of the Potomac, and General Sherman arrived with 
his command on the 25th of November. General Grant, immediately on the 
arrival of these reinforcements, made preparations to attack the rebel 



190 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

positions, and on the 15th of November the different divisions of the Union 
army moved to tlie assault of the enemy's lines. The range of heights known 
as Missionary Ridge, which was strongly fortified and held by General Bragg 
in force, was assaulted by the Union veterans, led by General Hooker, and 
supported by General Thomas, with his command. After a desperate and 
prolonged struggle, the heights were carried in gallant style by the Union 
troops, and tlie rebels were driven pell-mell from the ridge in confusion, com- 
pletely routed. General Sherman was equally successful in his attack on the 
enemy's position, and the rebels at all points fell back, and were by Generals 
Thomas and Hooker pursued and forced back into Georgia. General Sherman, 
■with his corps, was sent into East Tennessee to relieve General Burnside. 
His wonderful march of forty miles a day for several successive days has 
hardly been equaled in modern times. General Longstreet, who had been 
pressing General Burnside and his small support at Knoxville, being apprised 
of General Sherman's rapid approach, determined to carry General Biirnside's 
defenses by assault, but the attempt was a signal and disastrous failure and 
defeat, and before General Sherman arrived he raised the siege and retreated 
across the mountains into Virginia. The defeat of General Bragg and his 
expulsion from Tennessee, and the failure of General Longstreet in his siege 
of Knoxville, were the source and cause of much chagrin and disappointment 
to the rebels, and a corresponding cause of encouragement and congratula- 
tion to the loyal citizens, and filled all hearts with joy and exultation. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS — FINANCIAL POLICY — CHARACTERISTIC INCIDENTS. 

The third session of the Thirty-seventh Congress met on the 1st day of 
December, 1862, the administration having a large majority in both Houses. 
The general condition of the country, and the progress made towards the 
restoration of the Union, and the quelling of the rebellion were set forth at 
great length in the message of President Lincoln, which was sent in to 
Congress at the opening of the session. The following is an extract from the 
closing part of his message : 

"Fellow-citizens — We cannot escape history. We of this Congress and 
this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal 
significance or insignificance can spare one or the other of us. The fiery trial 
through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest 
generations. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that / 
■we say this. 

" We know how to save the Union. The world knows we know how to 
save it. We — even we here — hold the power and bear the responsibility. 

" In giving freedom to the slave we assume freedom to the free — honorable 
alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly 
lose the best hope of earth. Other means may succeed ; this could not, 
cannot fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous and just. A way which, 
if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." 

At the very commencement of the session resolutions were introduced by 

the opponents of the administration, censuring in strong terms its arrest of 

those in the loyal States who gave aid and comfort to the rebellion. It is a 

matter of history that at the outset of the war, every department of the 

Government, and every part of the country was filled with spies and informers, 

giving information to the rebel authorities ; and that in repeated 

and numerous instances the plans and purposes of the Government 

had been betrayed and defeated by these abettors and aiders of treason. In 

this state of affairs it became absolutely necessary, noj^ so much for punish- 

191 



192 LIFE AND rUBLIC SERVICES 

ment as for prevention, to arrest these men in the injurious and perhaps fatal 
actions in which they were engaged, and in this action the administration 
was vindicated and fully justified by Congress. 

A bill was introduced on the 8th of December, and passed, declaring the 
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to have been required by the public 
safety, making all acts by the President, and all acts of his officers by his 
orders valid, and all prosecutions against them void. It also authorized the 
President, during the war, to declare the suspension of the writ of habeas 
corpus at such time and in such places and with regard to such persons as in 
his judgment the public safety should require. One of the most important 
acts of the session was that which provided for the creation of a National force 
by enrolling and drafting the militia of the whole country — each State being 
required to contribute its quota in the ratio of its population, and the whole 
force, when raised, to be under the control of the President. This measure 
seemed necessary by the revival of the party spirit throughout the loyal States, 
and by the active and effective efforts made by the Democratic party to dis- 
courage and prevent volunteering. So successful had they been in this work, 
that the Government seemed likely to fail in its efforts to raise men for another 
campaign, and it was to avert this threatening evil that the bill was brought 
forward in Congress. It encountered violent opposition and resistance from 
the Democratic party, and particularly from those members whose sympathies 
with the secessionists were the most distinctly marked. The bill passed the 
House by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to forty-nine, and being concurred 
in by the Senate, became a law. The Financial bill, as passed at this session, 
authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow and issue bonds for nine 
hundred millions of dollars at not more than 6 per cent, interest, and payable 
at a time not less than ten nor more than forty years. It also authorized the 
Secretary to issue treasury notes to the amount of four hundred millionvS- 
of dollars, bearing interest, and also notes not bearing interest to the 
amount of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. A joint resolution was 
also passed authorizing the issue of treasury notes to the amount of one 
hundred millions of dollars to meet the immediate wants of the soldiers and 
sailors in the service. Tlie President announced his approval of this reso- 
lution by a message to Congress, from which we make the following extract, 
giving his financial views: "That Congress has power to regulate the 
currency of the country can hardly admit of doubt, and that a judicious 
measure to prevent the deterioration of this currency, by a reasonable tax- 
ation of bank circulation or otherwise, is needed seems equally clear. 
Independently of this general consideration, it would be unjust to the people 
at large to exempt banks enjoying the special privileges of circulation, from 
their just proportion of the public burdens. In order to raise money by way 



1^ 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 193 

of loans most easily and cheaply, it is clearly necessary to give every possible 
support to the public credit. This and a uniform currency, in which taxes, 
subscriptions, loans and all other ordinary public dues may be paid, are almost, 
if not quite indispensable. Such a currency can be furnished by banking 
associations authorized under a general Act of Congress, as suggested in my 
message at the beginning of the present session. The securing of this 
circulation by the pledge of United States bonds, as herein suggested, would 
still further facilitate loans by increasing the present, and causing a future 
demand for such bonds." A second bill in relation to finance, to provide a 
National currency, secured by a pledge of United States stocks, and to pro- 
vide for the circulation and redemption thereof, was passed under the convic- 
tion that so long as the war continued the country would require a large 
amount of paper money, and that this money should be National in its 
character, and rest on the faith of the Government for its security and 
redemption. An act of importance was also passed this session, admitting 
West Virginia into the Union. A bill was also introduced in the Senate 
proposing a grant of money to aid in the abolition of slavery in the State 
of Missouri. It gave rise to lengthy debates. Senators Sumner and Wilson 
and others in the Senate insisted that the aid should be granted on condi- 
tion of immediate emancipation; while the Senators of Missouri and 
others favored gradual emancipation. Others opposed the measure on the 
ground that Congress had no authority to appi-opriate the public money 
for that purpose. The bill finally passed the Senate, but failed in the 
House. Two members from Louisiana were admitted to seats in the House 
of Representatives under circumstances which rendered the event of much 
importance. On the capture of New Orleans, the rebel forces were driven 
out of that city, and some of the adjoining parishes; and during the ensuing 
Summer the citizens were invited to resume their allegience to tlie Union ; 
over sixty thousand came forward and took tlie oath of allegience, and w-ere 
admitted to their rights as citizens. On the 3d of December General Sheply, 
acting as Military Governor, ordered an election for members of Congress in 
the city of New Orleans and adjoining parishes, embracing two districts. In 
one of these districts B. F. Flanders was elected, and in the other Michael 
Hahn was elected. A committee of the House to which the application of 
these members for admission was referred on the 9th of February reported in 
iavor of their claim, and they were admitted to their seats by a vote of ninety- 
two to forty-four. 

Before the adjournment of Congress an Act was passed on the 3d of 
March authorizing the President, "in all domestic and foreign wars," to 
issue to private armed vessels of the United States letters of marque and 
reprisal — said act to terminate at the end of three years from the date of the 



194 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

Act. Resolutions were also adopted in both Houses protesting against every 
proposition of foreign interference, by proffers of mediation or otherwise, as 
"unreasonable and inadmissable," and declaring the " unalterable purpose 
of the United States to prosecute the war until the rebellion be overcome," 
passed the Senate thirty-one to five; in the House, one hundred and three to 
twenty-eight. 

This session closed March 4, 1863. It was characterized by the same 
fixed and marked determination to prosecute the war by the use of the most 
effective and vigorous measures for the suppression of the rebellion and the 
perpetuity of the Union, and by the same full and prompt support of the 
President, which had been so signally manifested by the preceding session of 
Congress. Perhaps the most important measure passed at this session of 
Congress, on the recommendation of the President, was its financial policy, 
establishing National banks, a National currency secured by United States 
stock, or bonds, for the redemption thereof. The growth and prosperity of 
the country, unequaled in its former history, attests the wisdom and utility 
of those measures. Some adherents of the administration party becoming 
impatient of the delays and the slow progress which seemed to mark the con- 
duct of the war and the suppression of the rebellion, were disposed to find 
fault and censure the President for his caution, and to insist upon bolder and 
more sweeping assaults upon the persons and property of the people of the 
rebel States, and especially upon the institution of slavery. On the other 
hand, the opponents of the administration denounced everything like coercion 
or severity as calculated to exasperate the South and prolong the war. The 
great body of the people, however, manifested a steady and firm reliance on 
the patriotic purpose and the calm sagacity evinced by the President in his 
management and conduct of public affairs. About this time two ladies, wives 
of rebel officers imprisoned on Johnson's island, called at the E.xecutive 
Mansion and obtained an audience with the President, and applied for the 
release of their husbands with great opportunity, one of them urging that her 
husband was a very religious man. As the President granted their requests, 
he said to the lady who had testified to her husband's religion : " You say 
that your husband is a religious man; tell him when you meet him, that I 
am not much of a judge of religion, but that in my opinion the religion that 
sets men to reV)el against their Government, because, as they think, that 
Government does not sufficiently help some men to eat their bread in the 
sweat of other men's faces, is not that sort of religion upon which men can 
get to Heaven." This, at least, was not Mr. Lincoln's religion. His was 
that whicli sympathized with all human sorrow, which lifted, so far as it had 
the power, the burden from the oppressed in every age and condition of life, 
without regard to age, sex or color. It may be expressed in the case of a 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 195 

poor woman who sought at the liands of the President, with the persistent 
affection of a mother, for the pardon of her son, condemned to death. She 
was successful in her petition. When she left the room the President turned 
and said : " Perhaps I have done wrong, but at all events I have made that 
poor woman happy." A friend called upon Mr. Lincoln, and found him 
busily engaged in counting greenbacks. " This, sir," said he, " is something 
out of my usual line, but a President of the United States has a multiplicity 
of duties not specified in the Constitution or Acts of Congress ; this is one of 
them. This money belongs to a poor negro, who is a porter in one of the 
departments, and who is very sick at present with the small-pox. He is now 
in one of the hospitals, and could not draw his pay because he could not sign 
his name. I have been to considerable trouble to overcome the difficulty and 
get it for him, and have succeeded in cutting red tape, as you newspaper men 
say. I am now di\'iding the money, and putting by a portion labeled in an 
envelop with my own hands, according to his wish." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

STHPENSION OF WHIT OF HABEAS CORPUS — ARRESTS FOR DISLOYALTY. 

One of the most formidable difficulties among the many which President 
Lincoln was compelled to face in the loyal States from the very outbreak of 
the rebellion, was that political, sympathetic, disloyal feeling, which was in 
harmony with the principles and actions of the conspirators against the 
Government. The toleration of President Buchanan's administration, while 
active preparations were being made for armed resistance to the Government, 
encouraged the secessionists in their nefarious designs, and evidences are 
not wanting that the rebels expected active co-operation of men and parties 
in their rebellious movements. When, in January, 1861, the rebels were pre- 
paring to ship large quantities of arms and munitions of war from New York 
for the contest, on which they had resolved, to the State of Georgia, and the 
same were seized by the police of New York, Fernando Wood, the Mayor of New 
York, apologized to Senator Toombs of Georgia, and assured him that, " if he 
had the power he should summarilv punish the authors of this illegal and 
unjustifiable seizure of private property." 

Upon the advent of President Lincoln's administration, prominent presses 
and politicians throughout the country began, by active hostility, to indicate 
their sympathy with those who sought to overthrow the Government, and it 
became manifest that there was sufficient treasonable sentiment in the loyal 
States to paralyze the authorities in their efforts, aided only by the ordinary 
machinery of the law to crush the secession movement. In this condition of 
affairs it was deemed necessary by the President that the "writ of habeas 
corpus " should be suspended, and that it was his duty to exercise the extra- 
ordinary powers with which the Constitution had clothed the Government. 
It was there provided that " the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should 
not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public 
safety might require it." When the necessity arose, of course, the Govern- 
ment charged with the public safety must be judge of the necessity. And 
that branch of the Government, legislative or executive, when and where the 
196 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 197 

emergency arose might or should perform the act. The first act of President 
Lincoln in that direction was his proclamation of May 3, 1861, directed to the 
commander of the United States troops on the Florida coast, "if lie sliould 
find it necessary, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and remove from the 
vicinity of the United States fortresses all dangerous or suspected persons." 
It was very soon found necessary to resort to the exercise of tlie same power 
in other sections of the countrj\ One particular case was that of John 
Merrvman of Baltimore, known by the Government to be in communication 
with the rebels, and to be giving them aid and comfort. He was arrested 
and imprisoned in Fort McHenry. He applied to Chief Justice Roger B. 
Taney for the issue of the writ of habeas corpus, which was granted, with an 
order to General Cadwaller to bring the body of Merryman before the Chief . 
Justice. The General said, in reply, that he was " authorized by the Presi- 
dent of the United States to suspend the writ of habeas corpus for the public 
safety," and that, while he fully appreciated the delicacy of the trust, he was 
also instructed, "that in times of civil strife, errors, if any, should be 
on the side of safety to the country." He therefore declined to obey the 
writ, whereupon the Judge issued an attachment against him for contempt 
of Court, and the Marshal charged with serving the writ made returns that 
he was not admitted within the fort, and therefore he could not serve the 
writ. Similar cases arose and were summarily disposed of in a similar manner 
in other sections of the country. 

This course of the administration was bitterly assailed by the party 
opposed to the Government and in sympathy with the rebellion, and violent 
and bitter assaults were made on the President by the public press holding dis- 
loyal sentiments. On the 5th of July, 1862, Attorney-General Bates trans- 
mitted to the President an elaborate opinion, prepared at his request, upon 
his power to make arrests of persons known to have criminal complicity with 
the rebels or those against whom there is probable cause for suspicion of 
such criminal complicitj'^, and also on his right to refuse to obey a writ of 
habeas corpus in case of such arrests. The Attorney-General discussed the 
subject at great length, and his arguments were conclusive and favorable to 
the action of the Government. From that time the administration, with 
vigor and energy, exerted its power to prevent the rebellion from receiving 
aid from those in sympathy with its action in the loyal States. A large num- 
ber of persons in various sections of the country, known to be in complicity 
"with the rebels, were arrested, but were released upon taking an oath of 
allegiance to the United States. 

Baltimore still continued for some time to be the headquarters of the 
conspirators and of movements of various kinds in aid of the rebellion, and 



198 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

on the meeting of the House of Delegates on the 16th of September, nine 
secession members, with the officers of both Houses, were arrested by General 
McClellan, then in command of the army, with his full approbation, and the 
session was not held. The President at that time gave the following state- 
ment relative to those arrests : * ' The public safety renders it necessary that 
the o-rounds of these arrests should at the present be withheld, but at the 
proper time they will be made public. Of one thing the people of Maryland 
may rest assured, that no arrests have been made, or will be made, not based 
upon substantial and unmistakable complicity with those in armed rebellion 
against the United States. In no case has an arrest been made on mere 
suspicion or through personal or partisan animosities ; but in all cases the 
Government is in possession of tangible and unmistakable evidence which will, 
when made public, be satisfactory to every loyal citizen." 

Arrests continued to be made by the State Department, not without com- 
plaint from large numbers of people, but with the general approbation of the 
whole country, and, beyond all question, to the advantage of the administra- 
tion and the country. On the 14th of February, 1862, the whole matter of 
arrests was transferred to the War Department. In the Executive order by 
the President, the whole circumstances which made those arrests necessary 
are stated with so much clearness and force that it would be interesting to 
insert here the whole order, but a short extract must suffice. He says : 

" Meantime a favorable change of public opinion has occurred. The line 
between loyalty and disloyalty is plainly defined ; the whole structure of the 
Government is firm and stable, apprehensions of public danger, and facilities 
for treasonable practices have diminished with the passions which prompted 
heedless persons to adopt them. 

" The rebellion is believed to have culminated and to be declining. The 
President, in view of these facts, and anxious to favor a return to the course 
of the administration, as far as regard for the public welfare will permit, 
directs that all political or State prisoners now held in military custody be 
released on their subscribing to a parol engaging them to render no aid or 
comfort to the enemies in hostility to the United States. To all persons who 
shall keep their parol when so released, the President grants an amnesty for 
all past offenses of treason or disloyalty which they may have committed." 

On the 27th of February a commission was appointed by the War Depart- 
ment, consisting of Major-General Dix and Hon. Edward Pierrepont of New 
York, to examine into the cases of State prisoners, and to determine whether, 
in view of the public safety and the existing rebellion, they should be dis- 
charged, or remain in arrest, or be remitted to the ci\nl tribimals for trial. 
These commissioners entered at once upon the discharge of their duties, and 



OK ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 199 

a large mmiber were released from custody on taking the oath of allegiance. 
During the succeeding Winter, while Congress was in session, public senti- 
ment was comparatively quiet on tlie subject. Congress, during the session, 
legalized all acts of the President, and gave him full authority to check and 
punish attempts to defeat the efforts of tlie adminstration in the prosecution 
of the war. 

After the adjournment of Congress the party agitation was revived, and 
public meetings were again held to denounce the Government and to protest 
against the further prosecution of the war. One of the most active and 
pestilent of these sympathizers with treason was C. C. Valandigham of Ohio, 
who as a member of Congress, stump politician and private citizen, had 
opposed the Government in its efforts to subdue the rebellion from its very 
inception. He had the effrontery to offer in the House resolutions of censure 
for those early acts of the President in calling out troops by which the 
National capital alone was saved from capture. 

His language in Congress had been so bitter and disloyal that the 
patriotic feelings of every Union citizen were outraged and insulted. Going 
home from Congress, he entered upon a canvass of his district, denouncing 
the Government and villifying its motive. The object and tendency of his 
malicious utterances were to discourage enlisting or volunteering for the 
military army in the field, to embarrass and weaken the efforts of the President 
in his great work of subduing the rebellion, and to give aid and succor to the 
enemies of the Union. 

General Burnside, a Union Democrat, then in command of the depart- 
of Ohio, issued an order (No. 38) announcing that thereafter all persons found 
within the Federal lines, who should commit acts for the benefit of the enemy, 
would be tried as spies or traitors, and if convicted would suffer death. This 
order Vallandigham publicly denounced, and called upon the people to resist 
its execution. General Burnside arrested him at once, and ordered him to 
be tried by a court martial at Cincinnati. On the 5th day of May, the day 
■following his arrest, he applied to the United States Circuit Court for a writ 
of habeas corpus, and after an elaborate argument from his counsel, Senator 
Pugh, and the reading of a letter from General Burnside giving his reasons 
for his arrest. Judge Leavitt, a life-time Democrat, decided against his appli- 
cation, giving his opinion that " The legality of the arrest depends on the 
necessity for making it, and that was to be determined by the military com- 
mander." And he further said, " Men should know and learn, and lay the 
truth to heart, that there is a course of conduct not involving overt treason, 
and not, therefore, subject to punishment as such, which, nevertheless, 
implies moral guilt and 'a gross oflfense against the country. Those who 



200 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

live under the protection and enjoy the blessings of our benignant Govern- 
ment must learn that they cannot stab its vitals with impunity. If they 
cherish hatred and hostility to it and desire its subversion, let them with- 
draw from its jurisdiction and seek the fellowship and protection of those 
with whom they are in sympathy. If they remain with us, while they are not 
of us, they must be subject to such a course of dealing as the great law of 
self-preservation prescribes and will enforce. And let them not complain if 
the stringent law of military necessity should find them to be the legitimate 
subjects of its action. I have no fear that the recognition of this doctrine 
will lead to an arbitrary invasion of the personal security or personal liberty 
of the citizen. It is rare, indeed, that a charge of disloyalty will be made on 
insufficient grounds. But if there should be an occasional mistake, such an 
occurrrence i.s not to be put in competition with the preservation of the Nation ; 
and I confess I am but little moved by the eloquent appeals of those who, 
while they indignantly denounce violations of personal liberty, look with no 
horror upon a despotism as unmitigated as the world has ever witnessed." 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

VALLANDIGIIAM SENT TO HIS FRIENDS — ALBANY MEETING — PRESIDENT'S REPLY. 

Immediately after the decision of Judge Ijcavitt, refusing Vallandigham 
his apphcation, he was tried and convicted, and was sentenced to confinement 
in some fortress of tlie United States, to be designated by General Burnside, 
w'ho designated Fort Warren as his place of confinement. The President 
modified the sentence and directed that the convict should be sent within the 
rebel lines, among the people whom he held in such cordial sympathy, and 
that he should not return until after the termination of the war. The man 
sent to his own did not seem to meet with a very cordial reception. The 
Southern people seemed to manifest that sentiment so notably marked in the 
case of a notorious personage in the early history of our country, in which it 
was said of his friends when they received him : " They loved the treason, 
but despised the traitor." So Vallandigham passed on through the rebellious 
States, and made his way to Canada. He subsequently returned to Ohio 
■without asking permission of the President. 

Our limits will not permit an extended exposition of the numerous and 
most noted cases of arrest by the civil and military authorities for treason 
and disloyalty. The public were but little acquainted and informed, at the 
time, of the magnitude and effect of the disloyal influences that were at work 
in the loyal States. This seditious and secession sentiment paralyzed and 
weakened the efforts and exertions of the Government for the suppression of 
the rebellion, and the baneful influences became so potent that stern neces- 
sity required the Presi(ient to interpose his constitutional authority and stay 
the nefarious influences that were at work for the subversion of the national 
authority. In the discharge of this duty, forbearance and clemency were the 
distinguished characteristics of his action, and at this day, when the extent 
and effects of this disloyal and secession sentiment and action of the guilty 
parties on the public mind, and on the policy of the Government, ajipear 
more clear, we can see that mercy and forbearance, rather than justice and 
merited punishment, were the rule and not the exception, and can hardly 

201 



202 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

realize how the President under cases so unnatural and malignant, and which 
called for severe and exemplary punishment, could be so lenient and merciful. 
The case of Vallandigham called for severe and condign punishment, and yet 
the President treated his case with the utmost lenity. His disloyalty was the 
most effective and offensive because of his eminence as a member of Congress, 
notorious because of his pestilential and malicious utterances against the 
Government and its policy for sustaining the unity of the Nation, but in this 
case, as in many others, the President had views of his own, and it is most 
likely that of his own volition he would have left from the first the arch con- 
spirator alone, believing that his fulminations, as events afterwards proved, 
rather strengthened the Union cause than otherwise. The arrest, the remarks 
of Judge Leavitt and the excitement growing out of the case had their salu- 
tary effects. In the loyal States a spirit of inquiry was awakened which 
resulted in drawing the line of distinction between the loyal and disloyal, 
and showing forth the enormity and audacity of those that were engaged in 
giving aid and encouragement to the rebellion. Prominent secessionists in 
the loyal States became alarmed. If military officers could arrest offenders 
and be sustained by the United States courts, and the criminals sent within 
the rebel lines, the inquiry naturally arose, who is safe, or who will be the 
next victim, and to meet the difficulties that surrounded them and shift the 
responsibilities from themselves, they began to call public meetings and to 
pass resolutions denouncing the Government, and requesting the President to 
reconsider his action in Vallandigham 's case. A meeting of this kind, where 
the notables opposed to the administration and the prosecution of the war 
for the preservation of the Union assembled in large numbers, met at Albany, 
May 16th. Governor Seymour sent a letter fully in spirit and harmony with 
the sentiments of the meeting. It would be difficult to point out or to distin- 
guish any difference in the principle or spirit of the treasonable language used 
by the arch agitator of Ohio or the peace Governor of New York. 

Governor Seymour said in his letter to the Albany meeting: "The 
sanction of the act by which Vallandigham was sent South by the President 
and the people was not only despotism, but revolution." Vallandigham had 
said that the administration was aiming not to restore the Union, but to 
crush out liberty. Governor Seymour said : " The action of the administra- 
tion will determine in the minds of more than half of the i)eople of the loyal 
States whether this war is waged to put down rebellion in the South or 
destroy free institutions at the North." 

The Albany meeting was in perfect harmony and concord witli Governor 
Sevmour's letter, and its spirit was embodied in the resolutions which were 
adopted pledging the Democratic party of tlie State to the preservation of the 
Union, but condemning in strong terms the whole system of military arrests. 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 

and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The leaders of this meeting 
had placed themselves in an attitude by their resolutions which the President 
coveted. They gave him the desired opportunity to give to the people of the 
Union an exhaustive and full statement of his policy on the subjects which 
were so strongly condemned by the meeting. It was a vindication worthy of 
the President of a people striving to save the Union, and sustain their nation- 
ality, and it was so regarded by the American people. It was so full, so con- 
clusive, that it was unanswerable, that no earnest or candid attempt was 
made to answer it. 

Our limits preclude even a review of the argument, but some extracts 
and illustrations may be given of its force and argument. In alleging the 
necessity and propriety of arresting those known to be traitors, but who were 
not guilty of an overt act of treason, the President said: "Many of the 
prominent leaders of the rebellion, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnson, J. C. 
Breckenridge and many others, now occupying prominent official positions 
under the rebel Government, were well known to be traitors, and were all 
within the power of the Government since the war began. Without doubt, if 
we had seized and held them, the insurgent cause would have been much 
weaker ; but no one of them had committed any crime defined by law. Every 
one of them, if arrested, would have been discharged on habeas corpus were 
the writ allowed to operate. In view of these and similar cases, I think the 
time will come when I shall be blamed for having made too few arrests 
rather than too many. Mr. Vallandigham was not arrested because he was 
damaging the political prospects of the administration or the personal in- 
terests of the commanding officer ; but because he was damaging the army, 
upon the existence and vigor of which the life of the Nation depends. Must 
I shoot a simple-minded boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of 
the wily agitator who induces him to desert? I think that in such a case to 
silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional but, withal, a 
great mercy." 

This Albany meeting, in their resolutions and proceedings, had styled 
themselves Democrats. The President said: "I would have preferred to 
have met you on the higher platform of American citizens. Nor can I, with 
full respect for your known intelligence and the fairly presumed deliberations 
with which you prepared your resolutions, be permitted to suppose that this 
occurred by accident, or in any other way than that they preferred to desig- 
nate themselves Democrats rather than American citizens. In this time of 
National peril, I would have preferred to have met you on a level — one step 
higher than any party platform — because I am sure that from such a more 
elevated position we could do better battle for the country we all love, than 
we can possibly from these lower ones, where, from the force of habit — the 



■ 204 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

prejudices of tlie past and selfish hopes of the future — we are sure to expend 

much of our ingenuity and strength in finding fault with and driving blows 

at each other. But since you have denied me this, I will yet be thankful, for 

the country's sake, that not all Democrats have done so. He who arrested 

Mr. Vallandigham is a Democrat, having no old party affinity with me ; and 

the Judge who rejected the constitutional view expressed in these resolutions 

by refusing to discharge Mr. Vallandigham on habeas corpus, is a Democrat 

of batter days than these, having received his judicial mantle at the hands of 

President Jackson. And still more, of all those Democrats who are noljly 

exposing their lives and shedding their blood on the battlefield, I have learned 

that manj' approve the course taken with Mr. Vallandigham. While I have 

not heard of a single one condemning it, I do not assert that there are none such. 

And still further, speaking of Jackson reminds me of another incident in 

point. At New Orleans, General Jackson declared martial law, which he 

still maintained after it was known that iieace had been concluded, but before 

official knowledge had arrived. Now that it could be said that the war was 

over, the clamor against martial law, which had existed from the first, 

became more furious. A Mr. Louiallia published a denunciatory article. 

General Jackson arrested him. A lawyer by the name of Morel procured the 

United States Judge, Hall, to issue a writ of habeas corpus to relieve Mr. 

Louiallia. General Jackson arrested both lawyer and Judge. A Mr. Hollinder 

ventured to say of some part of the matter that it was a "dirty trick." 

General Jackson arrested him. When the officer undertook to serve the 

writ of habeas corpus. General Jackson took it from him and sent him away 

with a copy. Holding the Judge in custody a few days, the General sent him 

beyond the limits of his encampment, and set him at liberty with an order to 

remain until the ratification of peace should be regularly announced. A day 

or two elapsed ; the ratification of a treaty of peace was announced, and the 

Judge and others were fully liberated. A few days more, and the Judge 

called General Jackson into Court and fined him one thousand dollars for 

having arrested him and the others named. The General paid the fine, and 

there the matter rested for nearly thirty years, when a Democratic Congress 

refunded the fine, principal and interest. And I may here remark that 

Senator Douglas, then a member of the House, was a prominent ad^vocate of 

this Democratic measure. Then we had the same Constitution as now; then 

we had an invasion, and now we have a case of rebellion ; and third, that the 

permanent right of the people to public discussion, the liberty of speech and 
of the ])ress, the trial by jurj', the law of evidence and the habeas corpus 
suffered no detriment whatever by the conduct of General Jackson or its 
subsequent ai)proval by tlie American Congress." 

A State Convention of the Democratic party was held at the State capital, 

Ohio, June 11th, for the purpose of nominating State officers, Mr. Vallandig- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLX. 205 

ham, who had been sent away by the President, was nominated for Governor, 
and Senator Pugh, who argued his case before Judge Leavitt, as their candi- 
date for Lieutenant-Governor. This Convention adopted resolutions pro- 
testing against the President's emancipation proclamation; condemning 
martial law in the loyal States ; denoumdng tlie sus]>en.sion of the writ of 
habeas corpus; protesting strongly against the banishment of Vallandigham, 
and calling on the President to restore him to his rights ; and a committee 
was appointed to wait on the President with the resolutions of the Convention, 
and to urge the immediate recall and restoration of Vallindigham, their 
candidate for Governor. To their request and resolutions, the President 
gave them a lengthy, plain, written reply, from which only a short extract 
can be given. The President said: "We all know that combinations, 
armed in some instances, to resist the arrest of deserters began several 
months ago. That more recently, the like has appeared in resistance to the 
enrollment, preparatory to a draft, and that quite a number of assassinations 
have occurred from the same animus. These had to be met by military force , 
and this has led to bloodshed and death. And now, under a sense of responsi. 
t)ility, more weighty and enduring than any which is merely official, I solemnly 
declare my belief that this hinderance of the military, including maiming and 
murder, is due to the cause in which Mr. Vallandigham has been engaged, in 
a greater degree than to any other cause, and it is due to him personally in a 
greater degree than to any other man. These things have been notorious — 
known to all — and, of course, known to Mr. Vallandigham. Perhaps I would 
not be wrong to say they originated with his special friends and adherents. 
With all this before their eyes, the Convention you represent has nominated 
him for Governor of Ohio. At the same time your nominee for Governor, in 
whose behalf you appeal, is known to you and the world, to declare against 
the use of the army to suppress the rebellion. Your own attitude, therefore, 
encourages desertion, resistance to the draft and the like, because it teaches 
those inclined to desert and to escape the draft to believe it is your purpose 
to protect them, and to hope you will become strong enough to do so. The 
original sentence of imprisonment in Mr. Vallandigham's case was to prevent 
injury to the military service only, and the modification of it was made as a 
less disagreeable mode to him of securing the same prevention." 

The recall from banishment desired was not made, and in the meantime 
the canvass for State officers went on, and at the election the people of 
Ohio decided against Mr. Vallandigham by a majority of over one hundred 
thousand votes. When he afterward clandestinely returned without leave, 
lie was j)ermitted to say and do as he pleased, as he had lost all power of 
doing harm, except where he might choose to bestow his friendship, which 
was exemplified afterward in a notable degree at the Chicago Convention 
which nominated General McClellan. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE MISSOURI IMBROGLIO — CHARACTERISTIC LETTERS — ELECTION RESULTS. 

One of the most unpleasant and vexatious difficulties among the many 
which the President had to meet, was that division of sentiment and policy 
which divided the friends of the Union in Missouri, dating back as far as the 
removal of General Fremont. An order issued by General Halleck, exclud- 
ing fugitive slaves from liis lines, though issued only for military purposes, 
aided the discord. The sharp, bitter, personal discussions to which this 
incident gave rise, were followed by action and discussions relative to 
emancipation, the parties dividing on the issue of gradual or immediate 
emancipation ; and this was followed bj' a disagreement between General 
Curtis, who was in command of the department, and Governor Gamble, who 
controlled the State troops. General Curtis was removed, and General 
Schofield was appointed in his place. This offended Governor Gamble's 
enemies, and they remonstrated with the President. 

Mr. Lincoln, in a letter written at this time, said: " It is very painful to 
me that you in Missouri cannot or will not settle your factional quarrel among 
yourselves. I have been tormented with it beyond endurance for a month 
by both sides. Neither side pays the least respect to my appeals to your 
reason." The friends of General Fremont were anxious that he should be 
recalled and appointed Military Governor, setting aside Governor Gamble. 
Partisans, committees and deputations visited Washington to harass and 
torment the President, still more, each returned, carrying back a report, and 
made the most of it to keep up the quarrel. In the Summer of I8G0 the 
public feeling became intense. Gradual emancipationists were denounced 
as traitors by the radical emancipation party, which claimed to represent 
the only loyal element of the State, and, of course, gradual emancipationists 
retorted the charge, and asserted their claims to loyalty. Soon after General 
Schofield's appointment, the President addressed him a letter referring to 
the troubles in Missouri, in which he said: "Now that you are in the 
position, I wish vou to undo nothing merely because General Curtis or 
20(3 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 207 

Governor Gamble did it, but to exercise your own judgment, and to do right 
for the public interest. Let your military measures be strong enough to repel 
the invaders and keep the peace, and not so strong as to unnecessarily harass 
and persecute the people. It is a difficult role, and so much greater will be 
the honor if you perform it well. If both factions, or neither, shall abuse 
3'ou, you will probably be about right. Beware of being assailed by one and 
praised by the other." 

On the 1st of July a State Convention in session passed an amendment 
to the Constitution, declaring that slavery sliould cease to exist in Missouri 
from the 4th of July, 1870. This, however, was by no means accepted as a 
final disposition of the matter. The demand was made for immediate eman- 
cipation, and Governor Gamble, and the members of the provisional 
Government who favored the policy adopted by the State Convention, were 
denounced as advocates of slavery and alhes of the rebellion. A mass meet- 
ing was held at Jefferson City on the 2d of September, at which resolutions 
■were adopted denouncing the military policy pursued by the State. A com- 
mittee of one from each county was appointed to visit Washington and lay 
their grievances before the President. The last of September the committee 
arrived at Washington and had an interview with the President, in which 
they represented Governor Gamble and General Schofield as being in virtual 
alliance with the rebels, and demanded the removal of the latter as an act of 
justice to the loyal anti-slavery men of the State. This committee demanded, 
first, the removal of General Schofield, and in his place the appointment of 
General Butler ; second, that the system of enrolled militia in Missouri may 
be broken up, and that National forces be substituted for it, and, third, that 
at all elections persons may be allowed to vote who are by law entitled to do so. 

On the 5th of October the President made to the representations and 
requests of the committee a lengthy and elaborate reply. To the first 
request, after giving his reasons, he said: " I must decline to remove 
General Schofield. In this I decide nothing against General Butler. I 
sincerely wish it were convenient to assign him a suitable command. And 
as at present advised, I cannot attempt the destruction of the enrolled militia 
•of Missouri. I may add that the force being under the National military 
control, it is also within the proclamation in regard to the habeas corpus. I 
concur in the propriety of your request in regard to elections, and have, as 
you see, directed General Schofield accordingly. I do not feel justified in 
entering upon the broad field you present in regard to the political diff'erences 
between Radicals and Conservatives. From time to time I have done and 
■said what it seemed to be proper to do and say. The public knows it full 
■well. It obliges nobody to follow me, and I trust it obliges me to follow 
nobody. The Radicals and Conservatives each agree with me in somethings 



208 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and disagree in others. I could wish that they could agree with me in all 
things, for then they would agree with each other, and would be too strong 
for any foe from any quarter. They chose to do otherwise, and I do not 
question their right. I, too, shall do what seems to be my duty. I hold,, 
however, commanders in Missouri or elsewhere responsible to me, and not 
to either Radicals ov Conservatives. It is my duty to hear all ; but at least I 
must, within my sphere, judge what to do and what to forbear." 

Accompanying this letter to the committee, was also a letter of instructions 
to General Schotield, in which he directed him so to use his authority as " to 
corai)el the excited ])eople to let one another alone." But all had no effect 
in quieting the political agitation or to ameliorate the personal feelings engen- 
dered by it. Subsequently General Rosecrans was placed in command, and 
the quarrel died out, or ceased to attract public attention. An anecdote of 
the President here may be in point, being applicable to the state of affairs in 
Missouri : 

The President was once speaking about an attack made on him by the 
committee on the conduct of the war, for a blunder, or something worse, in 
the youthwest — the matter involved being one which had fallen directly 
under the observance of the officer to whom he was talking, he possessing 
official evidence entirely different from the conclusions of the committee. 
The officer said to the President : 

" Might it not be well for me to set this matter right in a letter to some 
paper, stating the facts as they actually transpired? " 

" Oh, no; " replied the President; " at least not now. If I were to try 
to read, much less to answer, all the atta<-ks made on me, this shop might as 
well be closed to any other business. I do the very best I know how — the 
very best I can, and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings 
me out all right, what is said against me will not amount to anything. If the 
end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no- 
difference." 

The President had been invited by the Republican State Committee of 
Illinois to attend the State Convention to be held in Springfield, Septemlier 
8d. Being unable to attend, he wrote, in reply, a letter to the Convention,, 
defining his policy, from which we give an extract, which is characteristic: 

" The signs look better. The father of waters again goes un vexed to the 
sea. Thanks to the great Northwest, nor yet wholly to them. For three 
hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone and Jersey 
hewing their way, right and left. The sunny South, too, in more colors than 
one, also lent a helping hand ; on the spot, their part of the history was 
jotted down in black and white. The job was a great National one, and let 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 209 

none be slighted who bore an honorable part. And those who have cleared 
the great river may well be proud, but even that is not all. It is hard to say 
that anything has been more bravely and well done than at Antietum, 
Murfresboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of less note. 

" Nor must Uncle Sam's webfeet be forgotten. At all the watery margins 
they have been present, not only on the deep sea, and broad bay and rapid 
river, but also up the narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a 
little damp they liave been and made their tracks. Thanks to all for the 
great Republic — for tlie principle it lives by and keeps alive — for man's vast 
future — thanks to all. 

" Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will soon come, 
and come to stay ; and so come as to be worth keeping in all future ages. It 
•will then have been proven that among freemen there can be no successful 
appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are 
sure to lose their case and pay the costs. And tliere will be some black men 
who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clinched teeth, and steady 
ej'e and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to this great 
consummation. I fear there will be some white ones unable to forget that, 
with malignant heart and deceitful speech, they have striven to hinder it. 
Still, let us not be over sanguine of a speedy and final triumph ; let us be 
quite sober; let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just 
God, in his own good time, will give us tlie rightful result." 

In this letter the President was talking to his Western friends, and yet, 
not alone to. them, but to the loyal citizens of the Union, and to the lovers of 
freedom and humanity for all coming ages, with no utterances of reproach or 
bitterness to those who were striving to destroy the Union, save a reminder 
that the ballot is preferable to the bullet, and in a vein of pleasure for results 
accomplished, and thanks to all who had achieved the success, and with an 
equanimity of mind for the future, rarely, if ever excelled, he looks to the 
great disposer of events for the final results. While there was much favorable 
for the Union, there was, to a considerable extent, partisan opposition to 
specific measures of the adminirstration, and in some places this took form 
of open hostility to the further prosecution of the war. But the spirit and 
open determination of the people were for rebel submission, and the Union 
party entered upon the political contests in the several States in the Autumn 
of 18B3, with confidence of success, and the results of the election fully justi- 
fied the confidence of the people in the policy of the administration. All of 
the States in which elections were held, with the exception of New Jersey, 
voted to sustain the administration, and in all the largest States the majorities 
were so large as to show that the crisis which threatened to divide the Union, 
had passed. In Ohio, Vallandigham was defeated by a majority of nearly 



210 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

one hundred thousand votes against him. Governor Seymour, in New York, 
yvus defeated by thirty thousand for the administration, and Pennsylvania, 
with General McClellan in the canvass, gave Curtin, the war candidate for 
Governor, thirty thousand majority. The results of these elections vindi- 
cated the action of the Government in the matter of mihtary arrests, and 
sustained in every State the policy of the President in regard to slavery and 
in issuing the proclamation of emancipation as a military measure. The 
result was considered as a decided verdict of the people in support of the 
administration. It was so regarded by all parties throughout the country. 

It is well to note the progress, not only of events, but that of principles 
and ideas. Three years before, Missouri had refused to raise and send troops 
to defend the National capital. Maryland, three years before, made it neces- 
sary for the President to pass through Baltimore in the night to avoid 
assassination. Three years before, troops hastening to the protection of 
Washington, had left some of their comrades dead in the streets, and the 
whole city was seething with treason ; and those States, neither of which 
would, three years ago, tolerate any restraint upon the extension of slavery 
in the Territories, were now disputing as to the best mode of removing it 
within and from their own limits. 

At this time a grand fair, for the benefit of the United States Sanitary 
Commission, was held in Baltimore, and Mr. Lincoln was present. He said : 
" Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we cannot fail to note that the 
world moves. Looking upon the many people I see assembled here to serve, 
as best they may, the soldiers of the LTiiion, it occurs to me that three years 
ago those soldiers could not pass through Baltimore. I would say blessings 
on those men who have wrought these changes, and the women who have 
assisted them. The generous outpouring of means for sustaining these 
charities are voluntary contributions, giving proof that the National resources 
are not exhausted, and that the National patriotism will sustain us 
through all." 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

HIS DAILY EXPERIENCE AND INNER LIFE. 

In the preceding chapter we have recorded some of the difficulties and 
embarrassments that attended the President's daily public duties and experi- 
ence ; we may now enter the White House and record some of the incidents 
and trials of his daily and inner life. 

He had a method in all his official relations, and regular hours for the 
transaction of public business. His office hours were from 9 a. m., with an 
hour's intermission at 1 p. m., and continued frequently until 10 or 11 p. m. 
The mornings of Tuesday in each week were allotted to regular Cabinet meet- 
ings — the other days of the week were devoted to the reception of visitors on 
business. First in the morning, Senators ; next, Representatives of the 
House ; third, Governors of the several States ; and following, any or all that 
desired to see the President. The foregoing were admitted in their regular 
order on the presentation of their cards. The evenings were usually devoted 
by the President to the reception of all callers on business in his office, the 
doors being open to all, without the presentation of cards for admission. 

The President had carried with him into his public life those principles 
of humane excellence, kindness, gentleness, truthfulness and charity which 
have been so beautifully exemplified in his public addresses and public 
papers. But it was in the more intimate and personal relations and contact 
■with the people that those traits of character which have made his name im- 
mortal, have shone with their greatest luster and loveliness. Those princi- 
ples of the President became so apparent in the early days of his administra- 
tion that he soon became recognized as the father of his peoj)le. In Iiis youth 
he had been regarded as a conciliator of difficulties and troubles between his 
fellows, and now every man seemed to think that the President could and 
would settle his little trouble, or grant his request. To all he was so access- 
ible that all came to h*m with their wants and difficulties. One illustration 
here: An old lady called" on the President, arid requested that he would 

have a certain sum of money reserved from the salary of a clerk in one of the 

211 



212 UFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

departments so that she might receive her hill for board. The President 
heard the old lady, and with a smile of humor, told her that her request 
was rather out of the line of his official duties, Vjut that he thought it could 
be arranged so that she could get her money. The President, meeting soon the 
Secretary of the department in which the clerk was employed, said to him, 
laughing: "It seems that I am to be regarded as Police Judge. An old 
lady called on me to-day and requested me to collect a board bill from one of 
the clerks in your department." Of course the incident soon became public, 
and without doubt the old lady and other landladies rejoiced thereat. 

Mr. Lincoln entered the White House in robust health and with a vigor 
and vitality unusual to a man of his age. The three years of the war, with 
its responsibilities, anxieties and labors, had wrought a powerful depressing 
effect on his physical constitution, and he had become at this period, in a 
measure, a feeble man, wearied and worn by the great responsibilities which 
rested upon him as a leader and conductor in the greatest civil war of any 
age. There was a period in the President's life when love of country, demands 
of patriotism, and the obligations of his official oath required a stern compli- 
ance with official duty. 

It was a sad and solemn hour, not from any hesitancy as to the course 
he should pursue, nor from the weight of responsibility to be incurred, but it 
was grave and solemn, because the President loved peace. Benevolence and 
fraternity were his peculiar characteristics. The blood of a pious and peace- 
ful ancestry coursed through his veins. The culture of his mind in his early 
years by a Christian mother had created within his heart tender emotions of 
love and mercy. His professional experience and life had trained him to 
habits of loyalty and moderation, which invoked no remedies but the legal 
and peaceful ones of the laws and the constitution, and his principles were to 
convince and combat error with argument and reason alone. But with those 
humane and Christain 'characteristics were those more pre-eminent, love of 
country and suffering humanity. When all peaceful measures and overtures 
of peace for the per])etuit}- of the Union had been exhausted, when the desire 
of peace expressed and declared in his inaugural was unavailing, and its 
fraternal utterances were drowned in the boisterous clamors of war, when the 
Government forts, custom-houses and other property had been seized bj* the 
Southern Confederacy, when rebel armies were being organized for the 
avowed purpose of seizing the National capital, when the Southern oligarchy 
had arrayed itself against free soil and free labor, when the patricidal hands 
of Southern traitors were raised against the Union, and our star spangled 
banner went down in shame and dishonor from the battlements of Fort 
Sumpter, dishonored by reb(gl hands, then the hopes of conciliation and the 
dreams of peace had expired. 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 213 

Now the hour of hesitancy and doubt had passed. Now the course of 
duty and action was plain, and when on Monday morning, April 15, 1861, the 
President issued his first proclamation for the country's defenders, the call 
■was answered with an united aye and amen. The President sufTered during 
the struggle wliicli jjreoeded his decision that war must be prosecuted to save 
the Union, and he suffered during its continuance by the constant anxiety 
and efforts to make it successful and keep it in motion. His motives and 
extreme caution in the numerous difficulties that frequently arose in tlie 
constant civil and military emergencies were often misunderstood, his 
character was often assailed and his plans nullified l)y those whose best 
interest he was continually striving for, struggling with an anxious spirit and 
overtaxed brain for the good of the commonwealth, in common with the loyal 
citizens he deeply suff"ered when defeat lowered our National flag, and he felt 
it with a more vivid and painful force because he was the leader. In those 
days of despondency and gloom, when the hearts of the bravest failed, he 
never yielded to despondency or anger. His evenness of temper is attested 
by Napoleon III, who said : " Mr. Lincoln's highest claim on my admiration 
is a Roman ecjuanimity which has been tried by both extremes of fortune and 
not disturbed by either." When once asked if he ever despaired of the 
Republic, he answered: "Only once, and that was when the peninsular 
campaign terminated at Harrison's landing." 

With the soldiers who were fighting the battles of the Union he had the 
deepest sympathy. Whenever he was congratulated upon a success in the 
field, he never failed to allude to the noble men who won it. The trials of the 
soldiers, their sacrifices of comfort and health, of limb and life touched him 
with a sympathy and commiseration that really wore away his physical frame 
and constitution. His sympathy was marked in his treatment of their 
offences against military law. A personal friend of the President called upon 
him one day in the early part of the war. He had just signed a pardon for a 
young man who had been sentenced to be shot for sleeping on his post as a 
sentinel. The President remarked, as he read the pardon to the friend : "I 
could not think of going to eternity with the blood of that young man on my 
skirts." And then he added; "It is not to be wondered at, that a boy 
raised upon a farm, probably in the habit of going to bed at dark, should, 
when required to watcli, fall asleep, and I cannot consent to shoot him for 
such an act." And history records the fact that the dead body of this youth 
was found among the slain on the battlefield of Fredericksburg wearing next 
to his heart a photograph of his preserver, beneath, on which, the grateful 
fellow had written, " God bless President Lincoln." One evening, Schuyler 
Colfax left all other business to call on the President to ask him to respite 



214 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the son of a constituant who was sentenced to be shot for desertion. He 
heard the story with his usual patience (although he was worried and 
worn out with incessant toil and calls, and anxious for rest), and then he 
replied : " Some of the Generals complain that I impair discipline and subordi- 
nation in the army by my pardons and respites, but it makes me feel rested 
after a hard day's work if I can find some good excuse for saving a man's 
life, and I can go to bed happy, as I think how joyous the signing my name 
will make him and his family and his friends." And then with a smile 
beaming over the careworn face he signed the name that saved that young 
man's life. An officer in command of a division of the Army of the Potomac, 
said: "The first week of my command there were twenty-four deserters 
sentenced by court martial to be shot, and the warrants for their execution 
were sent to the President to be signed. He refused. I went to Washington 
and had an interview with the President. I said, Mr. President, unless these 
men are made an example of the army is in danger ; mercy to the few is 
cruelty to the many. He replied, ' General, there are already too many 
weeping widows in the United States. For God's sake, don't ask me to add 
to the number, for I won'tdo it. Put them in the ranks and try them again.' " 

A touching incident is related by one of the door-keepers. A poor woman 
from Philadelphia had called at the Executive Mansion for three days to see 
the President, with her baby in her arms. Her husband had deserted. He 
was arrested, tried and condemned to be shot. The sentence was to be 
executed on Saturday. On Monday previous she left home to see the Presi- 
dent. Said Daniel, the door-keeper, " She had been waiting in the ante- 
room three days ; there was such a crowd there had been no chance for her 
to get in. Late in the afternoon of the third day the President was going 
through the passage to his private rooms to get some rest. On his way 
through he heard the baby cry. He instantly went back to his office and 
rang the bell. Daniel, said he, is there a woman with a baby in the ante- 
room? I said there was. He said, send her to me at once. She went in 
and told her story, and the President pardoned her husband. As the woman 
came out from his presence weeping and her lips moving in prayer and thank- 
fullness, said Daniel, I went up to her, and pulling her shawl, I said, madam, 
it was the baby that done it." After that day the door-keeper had standing 
orders from the President, that no matter how great the throng, if Senators 
or Representatives had to wait or be turned away witliout an audience, he 
must see before the day is closed every one that came to him with a petition 
for the saving of life. 

This tender sensibility of the President came gradually under tlic control 
of his judgment, and the counsels of others sometimes constrained him to a 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 215 

severity which he hated, so at length the order for the merited restraint or 
punishment of pubhc offenders, was usually, though always reluctantly, 
ratified by him. But his sympathy with men in whatever condition, of what- 
ever opinion, in whatever wrongs involved, was so natural, constant and 
controlling that he was always inclined, as well as predetermined, to the 
widest and most generous theory possible. A volume might be written of 
similar incidents to these, the sufferings and miseries that the war had 
brought upon the Nation and people bore continually with sorrow and 
anguish on his sympathetic heart. We have no example of any man more 
considerate of human infirmity and weakness. He could always find so 
many excuses and apologies for the faults and sins of others, and he would 
always treat them with mercy and tenderness, unless he had evidence that 
the transgressions were purposely and maliciously committed. 

These virtues — mercy, sympathy and charity— which so ennoble and 
make God like our common humanity, were the governing principles of Mr. 
Lincoln's administration, and has given to the world an example which 
stands out in history as the grandest exhibition of devotion to the Constitu- 
tion and laws, and to freedom and humanity. In a case calling for exemplary 
justice, the President could be severe. Soon after his first inauguration a 
case occurred which illustrates this characteristic. Hon. J. B. Alley of 
Lynn, Massachusetts, was the bearer to the President of a petition for the 
pardon of a person confined in the Newburyport jail for being engaged in the 
slave trade. He had been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and to pay 
a fine of one thousand dollars. The petition was accompanied by a letter, in 
which the prisoner acknowledged his guilt and justice of his sentence ; he 
had served his term of imprisonment, but was still held for the payment of 
his fine. Mr. Alley read the letter to the President, who was much moved 
by its appeals, and when he himself had read the petition, he looked up and 
said: "My friend, that is a very touching appeal to my feelings. You 
know my weakness is to be, if possible, too easily moved by appeals for 
mercy, and if this man were guilty of the foulest murder that the arm of 
man could perpetrate, I might forgive him on such an appeal, but the man 
who could go to Africa, and rob her of her children and sell them into 
interminable bondage, with no other motive than that is furnished by dollars 
and cents, is so much worse than the most depraved murderer, that he can 
never receive ■ pardon at my hands, No; he may rot in jail before he shall 
have liberty by any act of mine." To the soldier wlio had deserted, or the 
boy found sleeping on his post, the President could extend mercy and parilon, 
but to the man guilty of the crime of kidnaping and man-stealing and man- 



216 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

selling, with all the cruelties attending that nefarious business, from him, 
the executive officer of the people, no pardon could be obtained. 

Mrs. M., a Calif ornian of '49, and an old and early friend of Mr. Lincoln, 
visited Washington in the Winter of '63 and '64, and was a frequent visitor 
at the White House. She thus relates her last interview with the President : 
" The morning before I left Washington for California I called on the Presi- 
dent. After some conversation relative. to my return, I said, ' Mr. Lincoln, I 
have with me three beautiful copies of your emancipation proclamation. 
They are lithographed, the original was executed with a pen by a young 
artist of San Francisco. I would esteem it as a great and highly appreciated 
favor to have your autograph to each one of tliem.' He replied: 'You 
shall have my name to them, and with pleasure.' After he had signed them 
I then said: ' Mr. Lincoln, allow me to kiss the hand that gave freedom, 
happiness and manhood to so many millions of human hearts.' As he 
reached out, with a smile, his lean, bony hand, tie said : ' I suppose this act 
of mine, giving freedom to the colored race in the Confederate States, will 
be considered by the world as the piominent act and feature of my adminis- 
tration, but I do not so regard it. With me the consideration that lias been 
paramount to all others, is the restoration of the Union, and the unity and 
security of the Republic, and when I have, through the support of the loyal 
citizens, accomplished tliis, the issue of which, I think, is now no longer in 
doubt, all others will be of compai-ative secondary importance.' " 

Mrs. M. continued : " Those beautiful souvenirs which I received from 
the President, one was presented to Senator C. Cole, one to D. W. Chusman, 
ex-United States Assistant Treasurer, San Francisco, and the third was 
retained by the recipient, and they are prized as mementos consecrated to 
friendship and memory, valued above all price." 

Ex-Governor Rice relates the following pleasing incident: "While 
officially resident in Washington, during the late war, I once had occasion to 
call upon President Lincoln with the late Senator Henry Wilson, upon an 
errand of a public nature, in which we were mutually interested. In the 
recognized order of precedent a member of the House of Representatives, as 
I then was, could not, in times of pressure for audience with the President, 
gain admittance so long as there were Cabinet Ministers, members of the 
Diplomatic Corps, Senators, or Justices of the Supreme Court, desiring 
audience with him. and all civilians must wait tlieir opportunity until after 
members of Congress and officers of the army and navy and of the civil 
service, and others had their turns respectively. Having a joint errand with 
Senator Wilson, I could avail myself of earlier admission ; but we were 
obliged to wait some time in the ante-room before we could be received, and 



LIFE AND PI:bUC SERVICES 21" 

When at length the door was opened to ns. a small lad, about ten or twelve 

slipped in between, and approached the President in advance. The latte 
gave he Senator and myself a cordial but brief salutation, and turnin. 
immediately to the lad, said : ' Who is the little boy ? ' Durin; their confer 

his'sto TT '"'■"""" ""^ ^^^^^^"^^^ ''''^''^^- 'T^- '-' soon t 1, 

his story, w^ich was, in substance, that he had come to Washington seekin ' 
employment as a page in the House of Kepresentatives, and he wish d 
the Pres,dent to give him such an appointment. To this the President 
rephed that such appointments were not at his disposal, and ha 
application must be made to the door-keeper of the House at tlie'cap tol 
But, sir,' said the lad, still undaunted, 'I am a good boy, and hav a 
letter from my mother and one of the Supervisors of our town, ;nd one rom 
^y Sunday-school teacher, and they all told me that I could e^rn enough on" 
.ession ot Congress to keep my mother and the rest of us comfortable all t e 
remamder of the year.' The President took the lad's papei. and ran h eve 
over them with that penetrating and absorbent look L'familiar t^al who 
knew him, and then took his pen and wrote on the back of one of them • ' If 
Captain Goodnow can give a place to this good little boy I shall be gratified ' 
and signed it ' A. Lincoln.' The boy's face became radiant with hope Id 
h walked out of the room with a step as light as though all the angels .4 
Mhispenng their congratulations. Only after the lad had gon^ did the P esT- 

tTZ:' ' '" ' '^"^*^^ ^"' --''-' '-' '-"^'^^^^"^ --^-e 

Thi^nk for a moment of a President of a great Nation and that Nation 
engaged m one of the most terrible wars waged against men, himself worn 
down with anxiety and labor, sul,jected to the alterations of .ucJe s and 
deieat. racked by the complaints of the envious, the disloyal and the un "rn 
able pressed to the decision of grave questions of public policv, and incim- 
b.red by the numberless incidents of civil and military resp^nsibilitv yet 
able so far to forget them all as to give himself up for the time being o' he 
errand ol a little boy who had braved an interview uninvited, and of whom 
he knew nothing. But he had a story to tell of his widowed mother and Z 

p::re "-: ir t ':r "'^ ^-'^ ^'''''' -^^ ^ ^^--^^ ^^-^ ^^^ 

1 resiaent s heart on all occasions. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS — PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE — GENERAL GRANT MADE 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. 

The Tliirty-eighth Congress met December 7, 1863, and the House of 
Representatives was promptly organized by the election of Hon. Schuyler 
Colfax, Republican, Speaker, he receiving 101 votes out of 181. In the 
Senate, the Senators from West Virginia were admitted to their seats by a 
vote of 36 to 5. California was represented in the Senate by Hons. John 
Conness and James A. McDougall, and in the House by Hons. Cornelius Cole, 
"Wm. Higby and Thomas Shannon. The President sent in his annual message 
on the 9th. It informed Congress and the country that our foreign relations 
were in the main highly satisfactory. An important point had been gained 
in the course of our correspondence with Great Britain — the issuing of an 
order by that Government forbidding the departure of formidable rams that 
were building in English ports for the rebel service. 

The proceedings of the French in Mexico gave rise to questions which 
were likely to be of permanent importance to the welfare of both countries. 
The French Minister expressed a desire that the United States would express 
its acquiescence in the establishment of the Archduke Maximilian on the 
throne of Mexico, and its willingness to enter into peaceful relations with 
that Government when established. In reply to this request, Mr. Seward, on 
the 23d of October, stated, " that our Government would maintain a position 
of complete neutrality in the war between France and Mexico, and that it 
had not the least intention or desire to interfere with the action of the people 
of Mexico in their choice of whatever institutions of Government they may, 
in the exercise of an absolute freedom, establish." While the position of the 
administration at that time in regard to the war in Mexico was neutrality, neither 
the President nor the people indicated any purpose to acquiesce in the imposi- 
tion of a foreign Prince upon the Mexican people by foreign armies ; and on 
the 4th of April, 1864, the House of Representatives adopted the following 
resolution : " Resolved, That the Congress of the United States are unwilling 
218 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 219 

oy silence to leave the nations of the world under the impression that they 
are indifferent spectators of the deplorable events now transpiring in the 
Republic of Mexico. Therefore they think it fit to declare that it does not 
accord with the sentinaent of the people of the United States to acknowledge 
a monarchical Government, erected on the ruins of any republican Govern- 
ment in America, under the auspices of any European power." 

Reference was made in the message favorable to the establishment of an 
international telegraph across the Atlantic ; to the movement abroad for 
immigration to the United States ; to the successful operations of the Treasury 
Department during the year. It also contained a general and full statement 
of the operations of the army and navy. It was further stated that the policy 
and results of the emancipation proclamation were held as being satisfactory, 
as the rebel borders had been pressed back, and the rebel territory had been 
divided by the opening of the Mississippi. Tennessee and Arkansas had 
been cleared of insurgent control, and Maryland and Missouri were disputing 
as to the best means to remove slavery from their limits. The public feeling 
abroad favorable to the Union had wonderfully improved under the influence 
of this policy, and the Government at home had been encouraged and sup- 
ported by the recent elections. The message treated with considerable detail 
the question of reconstruction, which was to assume importance with the 
progress of events. The message also called attention to the President's 
proclamation of amnesty to all those engaged in the rebellion who should take 
an oath to support, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, 
the union of the States under it, and the proclamation of the President con- 
cerning slaves. In the conclusion of his message the President said: "In 
the midst of other cares, however important, we must not lose sight of the 
fact that the war power is still our main reliance. To that power alone can 
we look for a time to give confidence to the people in the contested regions, 
that the insurgent power will not again overrule them. Until that confidence 
shall be established little can be done anywhere for what is called reconstruc- 
tion. Hence our chief care must still be directed to the army and navy, which 
have thus far borne their hardier part so nobly and so well. And it may be 
esteemed fortunate that in giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensable 
arms, we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander to 
sentinel, who compose them, and to whom, more than to others, the world 
must stand indebted for the home of freedom — disenthralled, regenerated 
enlarged and perpetuated." 

The action of Congress, during the first of the session, was not of special 
importance. The preceding Congress had so fully provided for all emer- 
gencies, both present and prospective, of the war, that but little in this 
direction was required. Public attention was fully absorbed by the military 



220 LIFE AND PVBLIC SERVICES 

operations, and the general character of the debates in Congress indicated 
the conviction on the part of the people of the whole country without regard 
to party distinctions, that the destruction of slavery was inseparable from a 
victorious prosecution of the war. 

All parties now acquiesced in the reality that the days of slavery were 
numbered, that the rebellion, organized for the purpose of extending and 
strengthening it, had placed it at the mercy of the National forces and com- 
pelled the executive power of the Government to assail its existence as the 
only means of subduing the rebellion and preserving and restoring the Union. 
The certainty that the prosecution of the war would result in the emancipa- 
tion of the slaves led to the introduction of measures in Congress preparatory 
for this emergency. February 6th a bill was reported in the House for the 
establishment of a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs. The bill passed the House, 
and after being discussed in the Senate, was passed over until the next session. 

The fugitive slave law — one of those compromise measures which was 
intended to silence the anti-slavery agitator, and be a final settlement of that 
question forever — was repealed with wonderful ease and unanimity. The 
most notable feature of this session of Congress was the resolution intro- 
duced to submit to the action of the several States an amendment to the Con- 
stitution of the United States, prohibiting the existence of slavery within the 
States and Territories of the Union forever. The introduction of this measure 
and the radical change proposed, and the comparatively small opposition it 
received showed the i:)rogress of events, and the experience of the last three 
years had left but little inclination in any quarter to prolong the existence of 
slavery, and the political necessities which formerly gave it protection and 
strength had ceased to be felt. Two Southern Senators — Saulsbury of Dela- 
ware, and Powell of Kentucky — urged that it was a palpable violation of 
States rights for the people thus to interfere with anything which State laws 
declared to be property ; but they were answered by Reverdy Jolinson of 
Maryland, who urged that when the constitution was formed this prohibition 
of slaverj' might unquestionably have been embodied in it, and that it was 
competent for the people to do now whatever they might have done then. A 
striking feature of the debate on the resolution in the Senate was a strong 
speech in its favor by Senator Henderson of Missouri, whose arguments in 
favor of the measure surprised the country, and even its friends, and was a 
forcible proof of the progress of the anti-slavery sentiment in the border 
States. The resolution passed the Senate April 8, 1864, by the strong vote of 
thirty-eight to six. It then went to the House, and was taken up May 31st. 
It was debated at length with but little comparative excitement. The vote 
was taken on its passage June 15th, and resulted in its rejection by a vote of 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 221 

ninety-four to sixty-five — two-thirds being necessary. Mr. Ashly of Ohio 
changed his vote to the negative for the purpose of moving a reconsideration, 
and the motion to reconsider having been made, the resolution went over in 
this position to the next session. 

A bill was introduced and passed March 2d restoring the grade of Lieu- 
tenant-General, and General Grant was appointed by the President, with the 
assent of the Senate, to that office and vested with the command of the armies 
of the United States. On the 9th of March the President, at the White 
House, handed to General Grant his commission, and thus addressed him : 
"General Grant; the expression of the Nation's approbation of what you 
have already done and its reliance on you for what remains to be done in the 
existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission, constituting 
you Lieuten'ant-General of the Army of the United States. With this high 
honor devolves on you an additional responsibility. As the country herein 
trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I need scarcely to add that, 
with what I here speak for the country, goes my own hearty personal 
concurrence." 

General Grant responded as follows: "Mr. President, I accept this 
commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the 
noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it 
will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the 
full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know if they 
are met it will be due to those armies, and above all, to the favor of that Prov- 
idence that leads both nations and men." 

The history of our country give, us no examples of men more true and 
devoted in their efforts for the perpetuity and unity of the Republic than 
those of President Lincoln and General Grant, and in their hands and by 
their labors, with no desire except the public weal, the hopes of humanity and 
the cause of freedom and nationality were destined to have a successful issue 
and illustrious triumph. Simplicity, charity and love of country and its con- 
stitution had led the President's kind and generous heart to deeds of great- 
ness and excellence, and made him the object of esteem, devotion and tender 
regard of a generous, loyal people. 

Not the courage of the hour, nor the brilliant onset of a Murat, gave Gen- 
eral Grant tlie prestige of a great soldier, but his indomitable will, and a 
purpose, firm, devoted and constant as was his love of country, gave him the 
honor of being the greatest military chieftain of the age. General Grant 
announced his assumption of command under this apppointment by a general 
order issued at Nashville, March 17th. Here, in connection with General 
Sherman, were taken the incipient steps, which were consummated on his 
return to Washington, of that remarkable campaign, which, for the tenacity 



222 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

of its leaders in its execution, and in its complete and successful accomplish- 
ment, has no parallel in ancient or modern history. Grand in conception and 
brilliant in execution, the results that have followed its success have been 
beyond the hopes and anticipations of the people, in that the supremacy of 
the constitution and Union has been restored. The principles of national 
unity and sovereignty have been fully established, the dark and unsightly 
incubus on our National prosperity has been obliterated and removed, and the 
nefarious and disorganizing doctrines of secession and nullification have been 
made so odious that they are only remembered with aversion, and our 
Republic is now standing forth in the light of universal liberty and brother- 
hood, the wonder, admiration and desire of the oppressed and down-trodden 
in every clime and nation in the civilized world. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

RECONSTRUCTION MKASURE8. 

The first movement of the administration on the important subject of 
reconstructing the Government of the rebelHous States, was embodied in a 
proclamation of the President which accompanied his annual message to the 
Thirty-eighth Congress. This matter had been, to a considerable extent, 
canvassed by the public press, and by prominent politicians, and the conclu- 
sions arrived at had been determined, to a great extent, by the sentiments 
and opinions of the different parties as to the objects and purposes of the 
war. The friends of the administration were divided to some extent on this 
subject. By referring to the debates of Congress of 1862-3 it will be seen 
that quite a number of the friends of the administration in both Houses 
maintained that, by the act of secession, the rebellious States had placed 
themselves outside the Constitution, and were here'after to be regarded and 
treated, not as members of the Union, but as alien enemies ; that their State 
organizations and State boundaries had been expunged by their own act, and 
that they were to be readmitted to the jurisdiction of the constitution, and 
to the privileges of the Union, only on such terms and conditions as the 
National Government of the loyal States might prescribe. By the President 
and others friendly to the administration, it was held that the Acts of 
secession passed by the several States were absolutely null and void, and 
that, while the persons who passed them, and those who aided in giving them 
effect by taking up arms against the United States, had rendered themselves 
individually liable to the penalty of treason, they had not, in any respect, 
changed the relations of their States as such to the National Government. 

The theory was, that the Government of those States had been, for a 
time, subverted; but they might at any time be re-established upon a repub- 
lican basis under the authority of the United States. The proclamation 
before reverted to indicated, in the main, this theory. The President had 
the power, under the constitution and by the specific Acts of Congress, to 

grant pardons upon such conditions as he might think expedient. In the 

223 



224 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

exercise of this power tlie President released from legal penalties, and 
restored to citizenship, all in each State, with special exceptions, who should 
take and abide by a prescribed oath ; and then he proclaimed his purpose to 
recognize them as citizens of such State, as alone competent to organize and 
carry on their local Government, and he pledged the power of the general 
Government to protect such Republican State Governments as they might 
establish, " against invasion and against domestic violence." By way of 
precaution against an usurpation of power by strangers, he insisted on the 
same qualification for voting as had been required by the constitution and 
laws of the State previous to secession, and to provide against usurpation of 
power by an insignificant minority, he also required that the new Govern- 
ment should be elected by at least one-tenth as many voters as had voted in 
the State at the Presidential election in 1860. In the oath which he imposed 
as essential to citizenship, the President required a pledge to sustain the 
constitution, the laws of Congress, and the Executive proclamations, and 
Acts on the subject of slavery, so long and so far as the same should not be 
declared invalid, and of no binding obligation by the Supreme Court of the 
United States. These were the foundations of the broad and substantial 
basis laid by the President for the restoration of the Union, and the re-estab- 
lishment of loyal republican Governments in the several seceded States. 
After the issuing of the President's proclamation, parties were organized in 
Louisiana for tne election of State officers, and at the election held, Michael 
Hahn was elected Governor, and was inaugurated Maich 4, 1804. An elec- 
tion was called for the election of delegates to a Constitutional Convention, 
and these delegates met in New Orleans on the 6th of April, and on the 10th 
of May they adopted, by a vote of 70 to 16, a clause in the new constitution 
by which slavery was forever abolished in that State. The constitution was 
adopted the 5th of September by a large majority. The State of Arkansas 
had followed the example, and had organized and re-established a loyal State 
Government and elected State officers. 

The following clause in the President's proclamation is his justification 
for prescribing the peculiar oath which he made as a condition of pardon : 
"An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State Government, con- 
structed in whole or prepondering part, from the very element against whose 
hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply absurd. There must be 
a test by which to separate the opposing elements, so as to build only from 
the sound ; and that test is a sufficiently liberal one, which accepts as sound 
whoever will make a sworn recantation of his former unsoundness. But if it 
be proper to require, as a test of admission to the political Imdy, an oath of 
allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to the Union under 
it, then also to the laws and proclamations in regard to slavery. Tliose laws: 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 225 

and proclamations were enacted and put forth for the purpose of aiding in 
the suppression of the rebelUon. To give them their fullest effect there had 
to be a pledge for their maintenance. In my judgment they have aided and 
will further aid the cause for which they were intended. To now abandon 
them would be not only to relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a 
cruel and an astonishing breach of faitli. I may add, at this point, that 
while I remain in my present position, I shall not attempt to retract or 
modify the emancipation proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any 
■person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any Acts of 
Congress. For these and other reasons it is thought best that support of 
these measures shall be included in the oath ; and it is believed that the 
Executive may lawfully claim it, in return for pardon and restoration of for- 
feited rights, which he has a clear constitutional power to withhold altogether, 
or grant upon the terms which he shall deem wisest for the public interest. 
It should be observed, also, that this part of the oath is subject to the modi- 
fying and abrogating power of legislative and supreme judicial decision." 

The President had always manifested great interest in all measures 
introduced to alleviate and relieve the hardships and sufferings of the soldiers 
in the field and in the hospitals. At a fair for the benefit of the soldiers, 
under the auspices of the Sanitary Commission, held at the Patent Office in 
Washington, the President was an interested visitor. Being called upon to 
say a word in encouragement to those who were laboring for the suffering 
soldiers, and to those who were in attendance, he said : "In this extraordi- 
nary war there have been developments extraordinary, such as have never 
been seen in former wars ; and among these manifestations nothing has been 
more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of the suffering soldiers and 
their families. I am not accustomed to the use of language of eulogy ; I 
have never studied the art of paying compliments to women, but I must say 
that if all that has been said by orators and poets since the creation of the 
world in praise of women, were applied to the women of America, it would 
not do them justice for their conduct during this war. I will close by saying, 
God bless the women of America." 

It was about a year before the fall of Richmond that a young lady, who 
ha<l known Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln for years, visited Washington. She was a 
sensible, warm-hearted, refined woman, gifted with a marvelous voice and a 
graceful figure, but she was very homely. She called at the White House, 
and when she had gone with Mrs. Lincoln into a private room, Mr. Lincoln 
expressed his surprise to a friend, that " some good man had not been lucky 

enough to marry her," adding: "L herself would be much happier if 

she were a wife and mother." A few moments later Major C , a volunteer 



226 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

officer, thoroughly respected by the President, and a bachelor, came into the 
study. The President looked at him thoughtfully. " What are you going to 

do when the war is over, C ? " he asked, suddenly. " Seek my fortune, 

I suppose," was the startled reply. "There it is in that room," said Mr. 
Lincoln. A frank, girlish laugh was heard at that moment. "No; you 
can't go to seek it now ; business first — but there it is." That evening there 
was a reception at the White House. The President beckoned to Major 

C : " Listen," he said. A lady, whom they could not see because of the 

crowd, was singing, in a voice of great beauty and sweetness, some joyous 
song. The Major would have moved forward, but Mr. Lincoln detained 
him, his eyes twinkling with shrewd mirth and fun. " Wait a bit," he said ; 
" don't look at her face yet." Presently she sang a ballad with such sweet- 
ness and pathos that the Major's eyes grew dim. " Now, go ; she is as good 
and true as her song." The good words of the President probably influenced 
both parties. In a few months they were married, and the union proved a 
happy one. " I did one wise thing in 1864," said the President, rubbing his 
chin, as was usual with him when well pleased ; "I made that match." 

A few months before the close of the war. Judge B of California, 

being in Washington, one day called on General Hallack, and presuming 
upon a familiar acquaintance in California a few years before, solicited a pass 
through our lines to see his father in Virginia, not expecting a refusal, as he 
and his father were known as Union men. " AVe have been deceived so 

often," said General Hallack, " and I regret I can't grant it." Judge B 

then went to Stanton, and was very briefly disposed of, with the same result. 
Finally he obtained an interview with the President, and stated his case. 
"Have you applied to General Hallack," inquired the President. "Yes; 

and met with a flat refusal," said Judge B . "Then you must see 

Stanton," continued the President. " I have, and with the same result," 
was the reply. " Well, then," said Mr. Lincoln, with a smile, " I can do 
nothing for you, for, you must know, 1 have very little influence with this 
administration." 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

CHAMPION OF THE INDUSTRIAL CLASSES. 

The popularity and success of Mr. Lincoln, both in private and public 
life, came from his sympathy and identification with the heart of the working 
people, and being one of them, his feelings, aims and efforts were enlisted in 
their interests and welfare, anci his labors were directed to their amelioration 
and improvement. To elevate and dignify free industry had early in his life 
became a fixed principle, and from time to time had enlisted his attention 
and elicited from him expression strongly favorable on this subject. Mr. 
Lincoln, on his first advent in public life, placed himself on record as being 
the advocate of free labor and its elevation by his resolutions for the removal 
of slavery from the District of Columbia, and his memorable contest with 
Douglas against the extension of slavery and for the retention of the public 
lands for homesteads, for freedom and free labor. His advocacy of those 
principles was so utterly in opposition to the principles of the Democratic 
party under the administration of President Buchanan for, the extension of 
slavery in free territory, that President Lincoln came to be regarded by the 
industrial classes and working men of our own country, as well as the work- 
ing men of Europe, as the champion and advocate of free lands and free 
labor, and for the elevation and education of the laboring classes. 

On the 31st of December, 1863, large and enthusiastic meetings were held 
at Manchester and at London, in England, by the working men to express 
their opinions in regard to the civil war in the United States, and what its 
effects and bearing would be on the industrial classes. At these meetings, 
addresses to President Lincoln were adopted, expressing the kindest senti- 
ments toward the United States, and declaring that since it had become 
evident that the destruction of slavery was involved in the overthrow of the 
rebellion, their sympathies had been and were heartily with the Government 
of the United States in the prosecution of the war. 

227 



228 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

These addresses were forwarded to the President through the Air.^.ican 
Minister at London, to which the President repUed. From this rep'y we 
make the following extract : 

" I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working men 
in Manchester and London, and in all Europe are called to endure in this 
crisis. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to 
overthrow this Government which was Vjuilt on the foundation of human 
rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis 
of human slavery, was likely to obtain favor in Europe. Through the action 
of our disloyal citizens the working men of Europe have been subjected to 
severe trials for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that attempt. Under 
the circumstances, I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the ques- 
tions as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed 
in any age or in any country. Indeed, it is an energetic and reinspiring assur- 
ance of the inherent power of truth, and of the ultimate and universal 
triumph of justice, humanity and freedom. I have no doubt that the senti- 
ments you have expressed will be sustaine(^ by your great Nation ; and, on 
the other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring you that they will excite 
admiration, esteem and the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the 
American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an 
augury that whatsoever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall 
your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exists between 
the two Nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual." 

On the 21st of March, 1864, a committee from the Workingmen's Asso- 
ciation of the city of New York waited upon the President and delivered an 
address, stating the general objects and purposes of the association, and 
requesting that he would allow his name to be enrolled among its honorary 
members. We subjoin in jiart the President's reply to this committee : 

" Gentlemen of the Committee — The honorary membersliip in your asso- 
ciation as generously tendered is gratefully received. You comprehend, as 
your address shows, that the existing rebellion means more and tends to do 
more than the perpetuation of African slavery ; that it is, in fact, a war ujjou 
the rights of working people. Labor is prior to and independent of capital. 
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had 
not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the 
highest consideration. Capital has its rights Avhich are as worthy of protec- 
tection as any other rights. Nor is it denied, that there is and probably 
always will be a relation between capital and labor, producing mutual 
benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor of a community 
exists witliin that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 229 

themselves, and with their capital hire or buy other few to labor for them, 
A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for others, nor have 
others work for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the 
whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor masters, while in the 
Northern States a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with 
their families, wives, sons and daughters, work for themselves on tlieir farms, 
in their houses and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves 
and asking no favors of the capital on the other hand, nor of hired laborers 
or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a consideral)le number of 
persons mingled their own labors with capital ; tliat is, they labor with their 
own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them, but this is a mixed, 
not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this 
mixed class. Again, as has been said, there is not of necessity any such 
thing as the freed hired laborer being fixed in that condition for life. Many 
independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in their 
lives, were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world 
labors for a while for wages, saves a surplus with which to buy land and 
tools for himself, then labors on his own account for a while, and at length 
hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just, generous and 
prosperous system which opens the way to all, gives hope to all and conse- 
quently energy, progress and improvement of condition to all. No men 
living are more worthy to be trusted that those who toil up from poverty — 
none less inclined to touch or take ought which they"have not honestly 
earned. The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation 
should be one uniting all working men of all nations, tongues and kindred. 
Nor should this lead to a war upon property or the owners of property. 
Property is the fruit of labor ; property is desireable ; it is a positive good to 
the world. That some are rich, sliows that others may become rich, and 
hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is 
houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and 
build himself one, thus by example assuring that his own should be safe 
from violence when built." 

Giving further evidence of the President's principles in favor of the 
working men and free lands, we add an extract of his message to Congress of 
December 9, 1863 : 

" It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen, 
that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring interest 
in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public lands than in 
the amount of revenue to be derived from the sale of them. This opinion 
has had a controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the subject of our 



230 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

National domain. This policy has received its most signal and benificent 
illustrations in the recent enactment granting homesteads to actual settlers. 
Since the 1st day of January last 1,556,515 acres have been taken under its 
provisions. This fact furnishes gratifying evidences of the increasing settle- 
ment upon the public lands, notwithstanding the great struggle in which the 
energies of the Nation have been engaged, and which has required so large a 
withdrawal of our citizens from their accustomed pursuits. I doubt not that 
Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will, without essentially 
changing the general features of the system, secure, to the greatest practical 
extent, its benefit to those who have left their homes in defense of their 
country in this arduous conflict." 

In the principles enunciated in his reply to the working men of England 
to the address of the Workingmen's Association of the city of New York, 
and in his measures and recommendations to Congress for the enactment of 
laws granting homesteads to actual settlers on the public lands the President 
placed himself and the Republican party he represented firmly on record as 
the representatives of the industrial classes, and as the party whose meas- 
ures have been and are still for the promotion of the interest and the 
elevation and liberal compensation of free labor through the entire Union. 
In a larger and more general sense Mr. Lincoln early in life became a repre- 
sentative man for the American system of protection, for the principle that, 
in the imposition of tariff duties, the protection of our home industries should 
be the object, and revenue the result. 

In the great political contest of 1844 Mr. Lincoln, as a candidate for Presi- 
dential elector on the Clay ticket, fully established his reputation as a strong 
reasoner and powerful advocate in favor of protective duties in the numerous 
addresses he delivered in Illinois and Indiana during that canvass. His 
exposition of the principles of that system and the fallacies of free trade were 
elaborate. The results have followed the protective policy and have been 
wonderfully realized in the establishment of industries in all sections of the 
Union, and remunerative employment and wages to our laborers and artisans, 
and a home market for our agricultural productions. The beneficial results 
to our country from this policy can only be estimated by its wonderful growth 
and prosperity, and its advancement in all the essentials of power and great- 
ness, until it has become the first amongst the nations of the earth. No 
President since the inception of our Government has left so deep and lasting 
an impression of his policy on our republican institutions. No administration 
has been so beneficial in its adaption to the wants and elevation of all classes 
of our citizens, as the administration of President Lincoln. These principles 
and his policy, which has been the rule, and under which our Government has 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 231 

been administered for the past twenty years, have carried our country and 
people forward in steady progress and prosperity, until now we have the 
exhibition of a great nation, perfectly free, remarkable in its progress, united 
in national interests, and with character and standing among the nations of 
the world, in prosperity and true greatness unequaled in the history of 
ancient or modern times. 

This unexampled development and expansion of our country, and the 
unfolding of its future greatness and possibilities, and the success of its 
people is attested by the thousands of happy and prosperous homes spread 
out over the great West from the " Father of Waters " to the placid Pacific, 
with public schools, churches and all the appliances of a high and free 
civilization, and the establishment of mechanical and manufacturing indus- 
tries from the White Mountains to the Rio Grande, are enduring testimonials 
of the benificeut results of the principles and home policy of Abraham 
Lincoln. 



CHAPTER XL. 

GLIMPSES OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

Much has been written and said relative to President Lincoln's religion 

and his Christian experience and life. No President of our Republic has 

lived whose Christian utterances and gentle piety have been so marked as in 

many of his l^tate papers. His religion was that which had sympathy for 

human sorrow and suffering of every class and kind ; that charity and love 

which would lift the burden from the oppressed and give joy and relief 

whenever possible. He was always very reserved in respect to his Christian 

experience and belief, seemingly wanting faith and confidence to make a 

personal application of the provisions and promises of the Gospel to himself, 

but in his utterances, writings and examples, tliere shine brightly ideals of 

true Christian character. His invocation for the prayers of his friends and 

neighbors when he left his home in Springfield to assume the duties of chief 

magistrate, for divine aid and guidance, was beautiful and touching in the 

extreme. His letter to his step-brother, written a short time previous to his 

father's death, leaves no question as to his piety and Christianity. It is as 

follows : 

" Springfiei,d, January 12, 1851. 

" Dear Brother : On the day before yesterday I received a lette;- from 

Harriet, written at Greenup. She says she has just returned from your 

house, and that father is very low and will hardly recover. She also says 

that you hav« written me two letters, and that, although you do not expect 

me to come, you wonder that I don't write. I received both of your letters, 

and although I have not answered them, it is not because I liave forgotten 

them or been interested about them, Vmt l)ecause it ajipeared to me that I 

could not write anything that would do any good. You alreadj' know that 

I desire that neither father nor mother sliall l)e in want of any comfort, 

either in health or sickness, while they live, and I feel sure you have not 

failed to use my name, if necessary, to procure a doctor or anything else for 

father in his present sickness. My business is such that I could hardly leave 

home now, if it was not as it is, that my own wife is sick a-bed. I sincerely 

hope that father may yet recover his heath, but at all events tell him to 
232 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 233 

remember to call upon and confide in our great, good and merciful 
Maker, who will not turn away from Him any in any extremity. He notes the 
fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads, and He will not forget 
the dying man who puts his trust in Him. Say to him that if we could meet 
now it IS doubtful whether it would not be more painful than pleasant, but 
that if it be his lot to go now, he will soon have a joyous meeting with many 
loved ones who have gone before, and where the rest of us, through the help 
of God, hope, ere long, to join them. Write to me again when you receive 
this. Affectionately, A. Lincoln." 

His reliance, in his later years, upon divine guidance and assistance, was 
often expressed with much tenderness and feeling. He once remarked : "I 
have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction 
that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me 
seemed insufficient for that day and occasion." On another occasion he 
said: "I should consider myself the most presumptuous blockhead upon 
this footstool if I, for one day, thought that I could discharge the duties 
which have come upon me since I came into this place, without the aid and 
enlightenment of One who is wiser and stronger than all others." 

In addition to his official duties, anxieties and troubles, in February, 1862, 
came the severe affliction in the death of his lovely and cherished son, 
AVillie, and the severe illness of his youngest son, Thomas. This was a 
painful stroke and a visitation which, in his firm reliance and faith in an 
overruling Providence, he could not understand. That this severe affliction 
should be added to the burdens he was already bearing, when it would seem 
necessary that comfort and relief should come to him from the endearing 
affections that cluster around the home and household, was a mysterious 
dispensation of Divine Providence to him, and a trial of his faith severe 
indeed. These tender relations of home and the family influences, which 
had done so much to mould and form Lincoln's character in early life, he 
carried with him in his own domestic and family relations, and home, to him, 
was a place of rest, of social enjoyment and of domestic tranquility. His 
tenderness for his children was profound, and with them he enjoyed a never- 
ceasing source of happiness and delight. In this sad affliction of the Presi- 
dent he had the consolation derived from the experience of a pious Christian, 
whose testimony enabled him to bear with some resignation his heavy burden. 

A Christian lady, who was a nurse in one of the hospitals, was called to 
attend the sick children. She says : The President watched with her at 
the bedside of the dying child, and tliat, walking back and fortli across the 
room, he would exclaim : " This is the hardest trial of my life. Why is it? 
Why is it?" He inquired of her concerning her experience and situation. 



234 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

She told him she was a widow, and tliat her husband and two children were 
in heaven, and added that she saw the hand of God in it all, and that she 
had never loved Him so much before as she had since her affliction. " How 
could that be? How could that be brought about?" inquired the 
President. She replied, " Simply by trusting God and feeling that he does 
all things well." Did you submit fully under the first loss?" he asked. 
" No," she answered; " not wholly; but as blow came upon blow, and all 
were taken, I could and did submit, and was resigned and happy, as I could 
look forward soon to a reunion in a kingdom where afflictions and separations 
are unknown." He said, " I am glad to hear you say that; your experience 
will help me bear my afflictions." 

On the morning of Master Willie's funeral this Christian lady assured 
the President that he was having the i)ra}'ers of many Christians for his sup- 
port and submission to the Divine will in his great affliction. As he wiped 
the tears from his eyes, he said : "I am glad to Mow that. I want them 
to pray for me. I need their prayers." And as the good lady expressed her 
deep sympathy with him, he thanked her kindly, and said : " 1 will try and 
and go to God with my sorrows." Some days afterward she asked him if he 
now could trust God. He replied: " I think I can, and I will try. I wish I 
had that childlike faith j-ou speak of, and I trust He will give it to me." 
He then referred to the death of his loving, afFectionate mother whose loss 
he was called to mourn when he was quite a youth, and the sad impressions 
which were then made never to be effaced in this life. He said, " I remem- 
ber her prayers ; they have always followed me ; they have clung to me all 
my life." 

On a subsequent occasion, this Christian woman was at the White House. 
It was after the second defeat at Bull Run. The President was much 
distressed at the number of killed and wounded, and he said : "I have done 
the best I could. I have asked God to guide me, and now I must leave the 
result with Him." On an other occasion, having learned by telegraph that a 
great Ijattle was in progress at a very important point, he came into tlie room 
where the lady was nursing a member of the family, looking weary and 
haggard, and saying that he felt so anxious that he could not eat anything. 
The possibility of defeat oppressed him deeply. The lady told him that he 
must trust God, and that he could at least pray. " Yes," said he, and, taking 
up a Bible, he started for his room. Could his fellow-citizens have heard the 
earnest prayer that was uttered in that sacred chamber as it reached the ears 
of the nurse, they would have raised their aspirations to the great Giver of all 
good in tearful and reverential sympathy. 

In the afternoon a telegram came announcing a Union victory. He came 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 235 

directly into the room, his face radiant with pleasure and joy, saying: 
" Good news, good news; the victory is ours and God is good." The pious 
lady suggested, " Nothing like prayer." " Yes there is," he said ; " prayer 
and praise." This Christian woman, who related tliese incidents, says: " I 
do believe he is a true Christian, altliough he has very little confidence in 
himself." 

We may note one incident here, showing the interest taken by the Presi- 
dent in the labors and influence of religious men. Colonel Loomis, com- 
mandant at Fort Columbus, was to be removed because he had passed the 
legal limit of age for active service. His religous influences were so salutary 
and powerful that the Chaplain of the post appealed to Rev. J. T. Duryea of 
New York to use his influence with the President for the good officer's reten- 
tion at tlie post. Accordingly, as requested, I\Ir. Duryea wrote a reque.st and 
forwarded it to tlie President, making the request sorely on religious grounds. 
" What does Mr. Duryea know of military matters?" inquired the President, 
with a smile, of the bearer of his petition. " Nothing," replied the gentle- 
man, " and he makes no request on military considerations. The record of 
Colonel Loomis for fifty years in the War Department will furnish these. 
He simply asks to retain the influences and services of a man whose Christian 
character and example are pure and constant ; who holds religous exercises at 
the post, leads a weekly prayer-meeting and teaihes a Bible class in the 
Sunday-school." The President replied: "That is his highest possible 
recommendation. Take this petition to the Secretary of War with my 
approval." The Colonel was retained at his post until his services were 
required at more important points of service. 

In the labors and peculiar work of the Sanitary and Christian Commis- 
sions in the army, the President always took a deep and personal interest, 
and attended all the important meetings of those charitable bodies held in 
Washington, and on all occasions gave them his official and personal approval. 
In 1864 a meeting of the Christian Commission was held in the National 
Capitol, which the President attended. The reports of the successful meas- 
ures and results of that noble, charita1)le organization gave him much 
pleasure. He was specially interested and gratified by the remarks of Chaj)- 
lain INIcCabe, who had been recently released from Libby prison at 
Ilichmond, and who gave an interesting statement of the joyous scene among 
the prisoners on tlie reception of the glorious news of the Union victory at 
Gettysburg, as they took up and sang Mrs. Howe's spirited poem, beginning 
with the line, " Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord," 
and made the prison walls resound with the soul-inspiring melody. The 
Chaplain on this occasion sang it with his rich and jiowerful voice, and the 
audience joined in the chorus, and as the patriotic melody reverberated 



236 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

through the corridors of the capitol the hearts of the audience were stirred as 
never before. The President was so well pleased that he called for its repeti- 
tion. It was a carol that he could enjoy and appreciate, and it moved him 
with a sensibility that was acute and overwhelming. 

In his circular issued to the army November 16th, relative to the observ- 
ance of the Christian Sabbath, he said : " The importance of man and beast 
for the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and 
sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people and 
a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the army and 
navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and char- 
acter of the National forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be 
imperiled by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High." Lan- 
guage could not express inore definitely and forcibly how highly he had 
associated the will of the Most High with the National cause, and how deep 
was his reverence for the claims and institutions of Christianity. 

While the President was struggling with the weight of personal trials and 
National responsibilities he was receiving the support and commendation 
of all the various organizations which constitute the Christian church of the 
loyal portion of the United States. Representatives of religious and philan- 
thropic organizations throughout the Christian world united their commenda- 
tions with those of our own country in expressions of personal sympathy of 
loyalty and of devotion to the Union, intermingled with counsels, prayers, 
incitements and hopes, came to him from every hand, and his responses to 
those manifestations of loyalty and sympathy, whether oral or written, man- 
ifested the spirit and feelings of a true Christian man in unison with the 
prayers and sympathies of a Christian people. 

Mrs. Lincoln, soon after their marriage, became a member of the Presby- 
terian Church in Springfield, Illinois, and with her husband and children 
were regular attendants of that church under the ministrations of Rev. 
Albert Hale. We can appropriately close this chapter with an anecdote 
quite characteristic. Soon after the President's first inauguration he attended 
the Foundry Church, occupying a seat within the altar, while Bishop Simpson 
preached a missionary sermon. After the collection was taken up at the close 
of the service and the congregation was about to be dismissed, an irrepress- 
ible brother arose and proposed to be one of a given number to raise $100 to 
make President Lincoln a life Director of the missionary society. The jiropo- 
sition was put and Brothers A., B. and C. responded glibly, but the inevitable 

pause finally came ; part of the money was wanting. When the Bishop 
announced, " who will take the balance," the pause became slightly impress- 
ive. Then tlie long form of the President was seen to rise, a long, bony arm 
was exttinded inii»loringly. and he said : "Bishop, this is the first time I 
have ever been placed ujion the auction block, Please let me pa}' the balance 
myself and take me down." 



I 



I 



CHAPTER XLI. 

DISCONTENT AND DISQUIET IN THE REPUBLICAN PAKTY. 

The quadrennial period had returned for the election of the Chief Magis- 
trate of the Union. The poor, humble boy, reared in the AVestern wilds, who 
had been called by the people, step by step, from his lowly condition to the 
highest and most exalted in the gift of the American people, was now about 
to submit his stewardship for approval to his fellow-countryman. The past 
four years had been to him years of intense interest and solicitude ; at times 
of hope and confidence, at others of darkness and fears. How faithfully the 
President had discharged the high and important interests committed to his 
keeping for the past four years was now a subject of National consideration. 
This National event, coming in the midst of the bitter contest of the civil war, in 
which were involved questions which divided even the loyal citizens of the 
Union, was considered by friends and foes, both at home and abroad, as one 
of the most severe ordeals to which our republican institutions could be 
■called to undergo. The Union was suffering in all its diversified interests 
from the distresses of the war. The countrj', cities and towns had often 
willingly and nobly responded to the calls for financial aid, and the numerous 
■calls for volunteers from time to time had been promptly filled, and still the 
result could not be seen. 

It can well be imagined that disinterested oVjservers questioned a favor- 
able result as to the power of the Government in a crisis like this to change its 
rulers, maintain its republican principles inviolate, and continue to hold 
those principles among the Governments of the world. 

During the four years of Mr. Lincoln's administration many of his friends, 
who originally supported him, became dissatisfied with his conduct of public 
affairs. Some thought that their friends had been slighted in the appoint- 
ments made, and others that their advice had not been accepted and adopted. 
The anti-slavery men tliought that tlie President was too slow and lenient, 
and the pro-slavery men thought he was too severe. In the great questions 

.at issue it could not well be otherwise that there sliould be dilierences of 

237 



238 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

opinion as to the true policy to be pursued by the administration, and when 
the time drew near for the Kepubhcan nominations to be made those differ- 
ences and tlie elements of dissatisfaction and discord became painfully 
apparent. Mr. Chase, the popular Secretary of the Treasury, who had long- 
desired and coveted the highest office in the gift of the people, early in the 
canvass had been mentioned as one who would enter the field as a candidate. 
The management of the National finances had given the Secretary a reputa- 
tion of distinguished ability and success. Mr. Chase, by virtue of his office 
and the patronage connected with it, gained power and influence which, 
under ordinary circumstances, it would have been difficult to overcome. 
General Fremont, ambitious and desirous of pre-eminence, had his friends, 
but they were of that anti-slavery element of the Republican party who were 
not satisfied with the President's policy and his treatment of the slavery 
question. They were willing and anxious to make capital on that question 
in the General's favor. 

It soon became evident, however, that the pretentions or claims of those 
aspirants created but a ripple on the great sea of public opinion, and that the 
great body of the Union citizens would favor the President's re-election. The 
people, althougii burdened and suffering from the war, the end of which 
could not be seen, were conscious that the ultimate success of the Union 
cause was assured, and having confidence in the experience, integrity and 
honesty of the President, they were satisfied that the policj" of the admin- 
istration should be continued. Secretary Chase early became satisfied that 
the Union sentiment was opposed to a change in the administration, and 
witlidrew from the contest. While there could be no particular objection to 
an honest and generous rivalry for the Presidency within the Republican 
party, the call for an organization and convention to meet at Cleveland on 
the 31st of May was an anti-administration movement in opposition to the 
regular Republican Convention that was to meet in Baltimore on the 8th of 
June. The Convention at Cleveland met at the appointed time, and was 
composed of a small number of self-appointed politicians. It was not the 
creation of a publiit sentiment, and its action failed to divide the adherents of 
the administration. Cjeneral Fremont's name served to give vitality and. 
influence to the movement. He received the nomination for President, and 
John Cochrane for Vice-President. This movement of General Fremont 
and the sentiments and utterances in his letter of acceptance constituted the 
most ungrateful and lamentable feature in the whole proceedings, when he 
well knew that the whole movement would tend to divide and destroy the 
Union party. General Fremont could not have forgotten that eight years, 
before he had been selected as the standard bearer of tlie Republican party,, 
and that now he did not exhibit a generous spirit in iiis attempt to divide it. 



i 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 239 

He had received from tlie President the appointment of Major-General and 
command of the department of the West; and after his failure there, the 
President gave him another department. The President, from the com- 
mencement of the war, gave repeated evidences of his good will and kind 
regards ; hut it is equally true that after the General's failures, he had lost 
confidence in his administrative and military abilities. The Republican 
party had been true and faithful to (xeneral Fremont, and when in his letter 
of acceptance he endeavored to destroy the official reputation of the President, 
he was ungenerously engaged in an effort to ruin the party that had given 
him prominence and distinction. The fnlminations and charges made by 
(ieneral Fremont against the administration found no favor with the Repub- 
lican party, and no attention was given to its implications by the President, 
save that of silent and merited contempt. In September the General with- 
drew from the canvass, when it became evident to all that his demofistration 
was an entire failure ; and in his letter of withdrawal he again reiterated the 
sentiments uttered in his letter of acceptance. These fnlminations of General 
Fremont against the President failed signally of their design and were 
regarded as the manifestoes of one who, without reason or cause, imagined 
that he had not been well tieated by the administration. Those futile 
attempts to create parties ojtposed to the policy of the President and the con- 
duct of the war gave him but little disquietude and concern. To one who 
accused the Secretary to him of using the patronage of his department to forward 
his own Presidential prospects, the President replied : " Well, Chase would 
make a good President; and, so far as I am concerned, I wish someone would 
take it off my hands." We may not infer from this or from the seeming indiffer- 
ence to the manifestations of opposition to his policy, that he did not feel a 
deep solicitude and a strong desire for the a})probation and commendation of 
the Union party, and for its support of his measures for the suppression of 
the rebellion and the restoration of the National unity. But in the great 
struggle for the life of the Republic, these ebullitions of disappointed or 
aspiring politicians gave the President but little unrest or anxiety. At this 
time the burden of his country was upon him ; matters far more important 
than who should be candidates for the Presidency were uppermost in his 
thoughts and mind. Weary and worn he was working early and late in the 
interests of humanity and freedom for the future of his country and for the 
amelioration of a race ; and, for the accomplishments of these great purposes, 
he was directing the operations of a great Government, and an army grand 
in its achievements and numbers, and composed of the youth and patriots of 
the Nation. These weighty responsibilities of the President wore severely on 
his physical and nervous system, and at times when the burdens were tlie 
most heavy upon liim from failures or disasters by his chief officers in their 



240 LIFE AND Pl'BLIC SERVICES 

military operations, he manifested depression of spirits and melancholy, and 
this was more particularly observed at the time and during General 
McClellan's failure in the peninsula campaij^n. Speaking of the war, he said 
to Mrs. Stowe, the authoress: " Whichever way it ends I have the impres- 
sion that I i^hall not last long after it is over." Tiie Hon. Schuyler Colfax 
met him one morning after having received bad news which had not been 
made public. He had not slept during the night nor breakfasted, and he 
exclaimed, " How willingly would I exchange places to-day with the soldiers 
who sleep on the ground in the Army of the Potomac." It was during the 
failure and disasters of 1862, a member of Congress called upon him for 
consultation on some matter, when the President began to tell a story. 
" Mr. President," said the member, " I did not come here to hear stories ; it 
is too serious a time." The smile left the President's face as he replied: 
" Howley, I respect you as an earnest and sincere man. You cannot be 
more anxious than I am constantly, and I say to you now, that if it was not 
for this occasional vent I should die. I feel a presentment that I shall not 
outlast the rebellion. When it is over my work will be done." That most 
solemn and binding oath taken by the President when inaugurated, "To pre- 
serve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," was to him the 
paramount object and de.sire of his dailj' life and existence. He realized and 
felt that the people were with him in his efforts, and he also understood fully 
that their hopes centered upon him, and that he alone would be held respon- 
siVjle for the fulfillment of the high trust placed in his hands. With this 
grave responsibility resting upon him, the most difficult and momentous of 
modern times, his own party divided in their views of his policy, and a large 
number of citizens of the loyal States opposed to his administration and in 
sympathy with the rebellion. His calm, dispassionate, patient and conserv- 
ative management of National affairs fully won the confidence and love of 
his people, and the admiration and praise of the civilized world. It was not 
for his psirty, it was not for himself, but it was for his country that he toiled 
and labored. His thoughts were for his country and his country's good. 
He said, on one occasion: "Let the Nation take hold of the larger works 
and the States the smaller ones ; and thus working in a meeting direction, 
discretely, but steadily and firmly, what is made unequal in one place may 
be equalized in another, extravagance may be avoided, and the whole 
country be put on that career of prosperity which shall correspond with its 
extent of territory, its National resources and the intelligence and enterprise 
of its people." 



CHAPTER XLII. 

PRESIDENT Lincoln's second nomination. 

On the 4th of June, four days before the time appointed for the meeting 
of the Baltimore Convention, a meeting was held in the city of New York, 
called, it was understood, to express the gratitude of the Nation to General 
Grant and the soldiers under his commacd for their labors and success in 
the Union cause, but tiie object was really to bring forward General Grant as 
a rival candidate for the Presidency. To cover the real purposes of the meet- 
ing the managers sent President Lincoln an invitation to attend it. In 
reply, the President sent them the following letter : 

" Gentlemen : Your letter inviting me to be present at a mass meeting 
of the loyal citizens, to be held in New York on the 4th instant, for the 
purpose of expressing gratitude to Lieutenant-General Grant for his signal 
services, was received yesterday. It is impossible for me to attend. I 
approve, nevertheless, whatever may tend to strengthen and sustain General 
Grant and the noble armies now under his direction. My previous high 
estimate of General Grant has been maintained and hightened Vjy what has 
occurred in the remarkable campaign he is now conducting, while the magni- 
tude and difficulty of the task before him does not prove less than I expected. 
He and his brave soldiers are now in the midst of their great trial, and I 
trust that at your meeting you will so shape your good words that they may 
turn to men and guns moving to his and their support." 

The political purposes prompting the call for this meeting were entirely 
neutralized by this simple and touching appeal made by the President in this 
letter to the loyalty and patriotism of the country. Its effect was to stimu- 
late promptly and extensively the efforts that were being made to fill up the 
ranks of the army, and thus effectually aid General Grant in the great 
campaign by which he intended to end the war. General Grant, in a private 
letter to a friend, however, put a decided stop to all the attempts of politit;ian8 
to make bis name the occasion of a division among Union men, l)y decidedly 

refusing to allow himself to be made a candidate, and reiterated in still 

241 



242 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

more emphatic and hopeful words, tlie President's appeal to the people for 
aid and support. There was an entire failure in all those scliemes of the 
several ambitious aspirants for political leadership, and they all failed to- 
have any effect upon the firm sentiment and purposes of the great body of 
the loyal people. The loyal citizens of the Union appreciated the necessity 
and fully realized the importance of continuing the administration of the 
Government in the same hands. They saw clearly that nothing would 
more effectually parah^ze the efforts of the rebels and impress the world with 
the stability of the Union cause than the resolute determination of the people 
to preserve the Union at all events, and at whatsoever cost, and the indorse- 
ment, by a popular vote, of the policy of the President, by whom the war 
had thus far been conducted. By this the Nation would prove its entire faith 
in his integrity and sagacity, and its confidence in his devotion to the public 
interest. 

The Republican Convention met at Baltimore on the day appointed, 
June 7th. It numbered nearly five hundred delegates, chosen by the voters 
of the Congressional Districts of the loyal States, and the loyal citizens of 
the States of Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas, in which the rebel authority 
had been overthrown, sent delegates. Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge of 
Kentucky, a stern and uncompromising Unionist, was chosen temporary 
Chairman, and Hon. William iJennison, ex-Governor of Ohio, was elected 
permanent President of the Convention. Henry J. Raymond, Chairman of 
the Committee on Resolutions, presented the platform, which was adopted, 
with warm aj)proval, and with entire unanimity. It was as follows : 

" Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to 
maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union and the para- 
inount authorit}' of the constitution and the laws of the United States ; and 
that, laying aside all differences and political ojiinions, we pledge ourselves, 
as Union men, animated by a common sentiment, and aiming at a common 
object, to do everything in our power to aid the Government in quelling, by 
force of arms, the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing 
to the punishment due to their crimes, the rebels and traitors in arms against it. 

" Jxr.wlced, That we approve the determination of the Government of 
the United States not to compromise with rebels, nor to ofier them any terms 
of peace, except such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender of 
their hostility, and a return to their just allegiance to the constitution and 
the laws of the United States ; and that we call upon the Government to 
maintain this position, and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible 
vigor to the complete siippression of the rebellion, in the full reliance upon 
the self-sacrificing patriotism, the heroic valor and tiie undying devotion of 
the American people to their country and its free institutions. 



I 



OF ABRAHAM MXCOI.N. 243 

" Ri'iiolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength 
of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the 
principles of rei)ublican government, justice and the National safety demand 
its utter extirpation from the soil of the Republic ; and that we uphold and 
maintain the Acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own 
defense, has aimed a death blow at this gigantic evil. We are in favor> 
furthermore, of such an amendment to the constitution, to be made by the 
people, in conformity with its provisions, as shall terminate and forever 
prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the 
United States. 

" Resolved, That we approve and applaud the pi-actical wisdom, the 
unselfish patriotism and unswerving fidelity to the constitution and the prin- 
ciples of American liljerty with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, 
under circumstances of unparalleled ditticulty, the great duties and responsi- 
bilities of the Presidential office ; that we approve and indorse, as demanded 
by the emergency and essential to the preservation of the Nation, within the 
constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to defend the 
Nation against its open and secret foes; that we approve especially the 
Proclamation of Emancipation, and the employment as Union soldiers of 
men heretofore held in slavery ; and that we have full confidence in his 
determination to carry out these and all other constitutional measures 
essential to the salvation of the country into full and complete effect. 

" Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in its 
armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws 
of war, and that any violation of these laws, or of the usages of civilized 
nations, in the time of war, Ity the rebels now in arms, should be made the 
subject of full and prompt redress. 

"Resolved, That the foreign immigration which in the past has added 
so much to the wealth and development of resources, and increase of power 
to this Nation, the asylum of tbe oppressed of all nations, should be fostered 
and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. 

" Resolved, That we are in favor of a speedy construction of the railroad 
to the Pacific Coast. 

" Resolved, That the National faith, pledged for the redemption of the 
public debt, must be kept inviolate ; and that for this purpose we recommend 
economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures, and a vigorous 
and just taxation ; that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit 
and promote the use of the National currenc}'. 

"Resolved, That we approve the position taken by the Government; 
that the people of the United States can never regard with indifference the 



244 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

attempt of any European power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by 
fraud, the institutions of any republican Government on the Western Conti- 
nent, and that they will view with extreme jealousy, as menacing to the 
peace and independence of this, our country, the efforts of any such power 
to obtain new footholds for monarchical Governments, sustained by a foreign 
military force in near proximity to the United States." 

After the adoption of the resolutions, which was done unanimously 
and with great enthusiasm, came the balloting for a Presidential candidate. 
At the first ballot, Mr. Lincoln received every vote, except twenty-two from 
Missouri, which, under instructions, were given for Genenal Grant. Mr. 
Lincoln received four hundred and ninety-seven votes, and on motion of Mr. 
Hume, one of the Missouri delegates, his nomination was made unanimous, 
amidst intense excitement. In the contest for Vice-President, Andrew 
Johnson of Tennessee received on the final vote, 492; Hon. D. L. Dickerson 
of New York, 17 ; Vice-President Hamlin, 9. The National Executive Com- 
mittee was then appointed, and the Convention adjourned. 

On the 9th of June the committee appointed (one from each State, in 
which Hon. John Bidwell rejiresented California), to inform Mr, Lincoln of 
his nomination, waited upon him at the White House. Governor Dennison, 
President of the Convention, and Chairman of the committee, made the 
address and handed him a copj' of the platform. The President said in reply : 
" Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Committee — I will neither conceal 
my gratification nor restrain the expression of my gratitude that the Union 
people, through their Convention, in the continued effort to save and advance 
the Nation, have deemed me not unworthy to remain in my present position. 
I know no reason to doubt that I shall accept the nomination tendered, and 
yet perhaps I should not declare definitely before reading and considering 
what is called the platform. I will say now, however, that I approve the 
declaration in favor of so amending the constitution as to prohibit slavery 
throughout the Nation. When the people in revolt with the hundred days 
explicit notice, that they could, within those days, resume their allegiance 
without the overthrow of their institutions, and that they could not resume 
it afterward, elected to stand out, such an amendment of the constitution as 
is now proposed becomes a fitting and necessary conclusion to the final suc- 
cess of the Union cause. I now i)erceive its importance and embrace it. 
Such alone can meet and cover all cavils in the joint names of li))erty and 
union. Let us labor to give it legal form and practical effect. Having served 
four years in the depths of a great and unended National peril, I can view 
this call to a second term in nowise more flattering to myself than as an 
expression of the public judgment that I may better finish a difficult work, 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 245 

in which I have labored from the first, than could anyone else less severely 
schooled to the task. In this view, and with assured reliance on the 
Almighty Ruler, who has so graciously sustained us so far, and with increased 
gratitude to the generous people for their continued confidence^ I accept the 
renewed trust, with its onerous and perplexing duties and responsibilities." 

On the same day, a deputation from the National Union League waited 
upon the President, and the Chairman addressed him as follows: "Mr. 
President— I have the honor of introducing to you the representatives of the 
Union League of the loyal States, to congratulate you on your nomination, 
and to assure you that we will not fail at the polls to give you the support 
that your services in tiie past so highly deserve. We feel honored in doing 
this, for we are assured tiiat we are aiding in re-electins: to the proud position 
of President of the United States one so highly worthy of it, one among not 
the least of whose claims is that he was the emancipator of four millions of 
bondmen." 

The President replied as follows: "Gentlemen — I can only say in 
response to the remarks of your Chairman that I am very grateful for the 
renewed confidence which has been accorded to me, botli by the Convention 
and by the National League. I am not insensible at all to the personal com- 
pliment there is in this, yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a 
small portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment. The 
Convention and the Nation, I am assured, are alike animated by a higher 
view of the interests of the country for the present and the great future, and 
the part I am entitled to appropriate as a compliment is only that part 
which I may lay hold of as being the opinion of the Convention and the 
League, that I am not entirely unworthy to be interested with the place I 
have occupied for the last three years. I have not permitted myself, gentle- 
men, to conclude that I am the best man in the country, but I am reminded 
in this connection of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a com- 
panion once : 'That it was not best to swap horses when crossing a stream.' " 

On the evening of the same day the President was serenaded by the dele- 
gation from Ohio, and with them a large crowd had assembled in front of 
the Executive Mansion, and at the close of a brief speech, the President 
said : "What we want more than Baltimore Conventions or Presidential 
elections, is success under General Grant. 1 propose that you constantly 
bear in mind that the support you owe to the brave officers and soldiers in 
the field is of the very first importance, and we should therefore bend all our 
energies to that point. Now, without detaining you any longer, I propose 
that you help me to close up what I am now saying, with three rousing cheers 

for General Grant and the officers and soldiers under his command." The 
three rousing cheers were given with a will, the President himself leading off 
and waving his hat as earnestly as anyone present. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

PKESIDENTIAL CANVASS, 1864. 

Two months after the nomination of President Lincohi for the second 

term by the Baltimore Convention, the Democratic Convention was to 

convene in Chicago. The object in deferring said Convention to so late a 

date was evidently with the hope and possibility that the events of the war 

and disasters in the military operations, then in progress, would give that 

Convention tlie policy of taking issues with the administration as to the 

further prosecution ot the war for the suppression of the rebellion. During 

the period that intervened between the time of holding the two Conventions 

there was for a short time after the nomination of Mr. Lincoln a firm belief 

in the favorable results of the campaign. But later in the canvass, before 

the meeting of the Democratic Convention, the friends of the administration 

became despondent and a spirit of anxiety and unrest seemed to pervade the 

friends of the President, and there was evidently for a time a distrust of the 

future and a question of the propriety of tlie choice that had been made. 

Politicians could not give any reason or cause for this state of public feeling, 

but it was evidently in part from a feeling of consciousness that the people 

were becoming tired and restive under the c-onstant calls for men and material 

for the prosecution of the w^ar, the end of which could not be seen or anticipated. 

There were still divisions in the Republican party on questions of ])ub]ic 

interest but they gave the President but little trouble or concern. The 

friends of the administration, however, feared that those dissensions would 

have an unfavorable result on the pending canvass. The most serious 

•division in the Republican ranks was on the plan of reconstruction of the 

rebel Htates. Early in July, Congress passed a plan of reconstruction which 

was emV)odied in a bill passed after much debate and heated discussion. In 

the advocacy and preparation of this bill, Henry \Y. Davis of Maryland, and 

Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, prominent Republicans, were eminently and 

i)rominently active in procuring its passage. The President's views on that 

;subjet;t were not fully in accord with some of its provisions, and it did not 

246 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 247 

meet with his approval. Immediately after the adjournment of Conjjress the 
President issued a proclamation on the subject, in which he stated that he 
was unprepared by his approval of the bill to commit the administration to 
any single act or method of recon.struction or to set aside the Union Statf^ 
Governments then in force in Arkansas and Louisiana. He was, however, 
willing that the plan embodied in the bill siiould be recognized as one with 
others, and so made the bill a part of his proclamation. This action of the 
President offended Messrs. Davis and Wade, who joined in a bitter, offensive 
article against the President, and published the same in the New York 
Tribune. In its strictures on the President's motives, it was a paper unworthy 
of its authors, and gave much paiu and anxiety to the friends of the 
administration. 

The growing solicitude of the people for peace and the suppression of the 
rebellion gave much anxiety and serious thought to the President. One of 
the many efibrts that was made by the rebels and their friends in the loyal 
States was to create a sentiment and conviction with the people that the 
Government and its supporters were not anxious for peace, and that it did 
not accept and imi)rove the opportunities that were offered to promote this 
result. The President had no evidence that the Rebel (Confederacy desired 
peace on any conditions or terms that would be satisfactory or acceptable to 
the loyal citizens of the Union. To secure a peace the President could enter- 
tain no proposition that did not fully provide for the restoration of the Union 
under the constitution, and the abolition of slavery. These were essential 
conditions which the President could not ignore without being recreant to the 
great trust reposed in him, and to the solemn oath he had taken, and to the 
loyal citizens and soldiers who had given their treasure and lives to save the 
Union. Efforts in this direction were made from Niagara Falls in .luly by 
two noted rebels, C. C. Clay of Alabama, and Jacob Thompson of Mississippi. 
They claimed that they were duly authorized by the rebel Confederacy to 
negotiate a peace. They, through Horace Greeley, endeavored to obtain a 
safe conduct to Washington from the President for that purpose. In answer 
to the letter of Mr. Greeley, the President replied: " If you can find anv 
person anywhere professing to have any proposition of Jefferson Davis in 
writing embracing the restoration of the Union and abandonment of slavery, 
whatever else it embraces, say to him that he may come to me with you." 

In a letter of a later date by the President to Mr. Greeley, the President 
said : " I am disappointed that you have not already reached here with those 
commissioners. If they would consent to come on being shown my letter to 
you of the 9th instant, show that and this to them, and if they will consent 
to come on the terms stated in the former, bring them. I not only intend a 
.sincere effort for peace, but I intend that you shall be a personal witness that 



248 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

it is made." With this letter from the President, Mr. Greeley repaired to 
Niagara Falls, and informed the said commissioners in a note that if they 
were duly commissioned from Richmond as bearers of propositions for peace 
he was ready and authorized to give them permission to visit Washington and 
to accompany them. In reply to this note of Mr. Greeley's, the self-styled 
commissioners stated that the safe conduct by the President had been given 
under a misapprehension of the case, and further, they now stated that they 
had no authority from the Confederate Government for negotiating a peace. 
They stated, however, that they were in the service of that Government, and 
were familiar with its wishes, and that they could be invested with power to 
act as commissioners. It appears that Mr. Greeley had not informed the 
commissioners of the terms of Mr. Lincoln's letter of the 9th, in which a safe 
conduct was for those who had propositions for peace conditioned upon the 
restoration of the Union and the abolition of slavery. In order that the 
President should not be misunderstood, on the 18th he sent Major Hay to 
Niagara with the following letter : 

" Executive Mansion, Washington, July 18, 1864. 

" To Whom It May Concern: Any proposition which embraces the restora- 
tion of the whole Union, and the abolishment of slavery, and which comes 
by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the 
United States, will be received and considered by the executive Government 
of the United States, and will be met on liberal terms, on substantial and 
collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct 
both ways." 

This letter of the President gave the would-be commissioners plain and 
undisguised terms in which propositions for peace would be received from the 
rebel Government, and they having no authority to negotiate, proceeded to 
impugn the conduct of the President, and charged him with being adverse to 
negotiations for peace, and that in the actions of the President with them 
there was evidently no desire to open negotiations for that object. This 
letter was addressed to Mr. Greeley and published in the New York Tribune 
and all the papers in sympathy with the rebellion. The President was not 
willing at that time to have all the correspondence in relation to the subject 
published, as a portion he thought would have an unfavorable effect on the 
result of the war. Efforts were made to create the impression that the 
President had not pursued an honorable course with the irresponsible embas- 
sadors, and that instead of inviting proposals for peace, his conduct had 
repelled the same. As Mr. Greeley declined to have the correspondence 
published unless that portion which the President tliought would be improper 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 249 

at that time should be retained, the President sent a line to H. J. Raymond, 
editor of the New York Times, under date of August 15, ISG-i: 

"My Dear Sir: I have proposed to Mr. Greeley that the Niagara cor- 
respondence be published, suppressing only the parts of his letter, over 
which red pencil is draivn in the copy which I herewith send. He declines 
giving his consent to the publication of his letters unless these parts be pub- 
lished with the rest. I have concluded that it is better for me to submit for 
the time to the consequences of publishing these discouraging and injurious 
parts. I send you this and the accompanying copy not for publication, but 
merely to explain to you, and that you preserve them until the proper time 
shall come. Yours truly, Abraham Lincoln." 

In the correspondence, since published, there is no evidence that Mr. 
Greeley ever informed the rebel emmissaries of the President's original con- 
ditions for a safe conduct and interview. For the good of the country the 
President was willing to bear the charge of having pursued an inconsistent 
course with them, and of having repelled offers of peace, until such time as 
the facts in the case could be published without detriment to the Union cause. 
Every effort possible was now being made by those opposed to the war and 
in sympathy with the rebellion to create a peace party in the loyal States, to 
paralyze the efforts of the administration for the restoration of the Union, and 
to widen the dissensions in the Republican party. These futile efforts of the 
enemies of the Union gave the President but little concern. They were but 
the ebullitions and throes of the rebellion in its last stage of dissolution, with 
indications that it had passed the limit of resuscitation. A more significant 
and positive enunciation of the purposes of the rebellion than was shadowed 
by the Niagara imbroglio came directly from the President of the Confederacy 
at Richmond. The Rev. Colonel James F. Jaques of the 73d regiment, Illinois, 
with J. R. Gilmore, Esq., of New York, had, with President Lincoln's knowl- 
edge, but without his formal permission, made a visit to the rebel capital. 
Their object was to obtain direct from President Davis the terms or conditions 
on which peace could be obtained, and reunion assured. They were allowed 
to pass through the lines of both armies for that purpose. On their arrival in 
Richmond, they addressed a letter to J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State, 
stating their object and requesting an interview with President Davis, which 
was given ; and a long, earnest conversation ensued, and at the close, Presi- 
dent Davis presented his terms in the following words : 

" I desire peace as much as you do. I feel that not one drop of the b 
shed in this war is on my hands. I can look up to my God and say this. I 
tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, and for twelve 
years I worked night and day to prevent it, but I could not. The North was 



250 OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

\ 

mad and blind. It would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came, 
and it must go on till the.last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and 
his children seize his musket and fight our battles, unless you acknowledge 
our right to self-government. We are not fighting for slavery, we are fighting 
for independence, and that or extermination we will have. Say to Mr. 
Lincoln, from^me, that I shall at any time be pleased to receive proposals for 
peace on the basis of our independence. It will be useless to approach me 
with any other." 

The illusive theory and statements of the leaders of the opposition to the 
administration in the^ loyal States, that the Confederates were not fighting 
against the Union, but against abolition, were disproved and denied by the 
arch traitor himself, and the publication of President Davis' ultimatum gave 
power and strength to the Union cause. It was now understood and settled 
that the war must go on until the independence of the Southern Confederacy 
should be acknowledged or the Union restored. 



k\ 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

RESULT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST, 1864. 

The anxiety and uncertainty in the public mind as to the action of the 
Democratic Convention were now to be reheved, for the time of its meeting 
was now at hand. It met at Chicago on the 29th of August. General Grant, 
with his army, was before Petersburg, holding General Lee in Richmond, 
and General Sherman, with his army, was in the heart of the Confederacy 
before Atlanta. The results of the military movements, although favorable, 
were still undecided. Gigantic efforts were being made to furnish men for 
the reinforcements of the Union forces. The loyal element of the Democratic 
party was still in favor of the suppression of the rebellion and restoration of 
the Union by the military power. The disloyal portion of the Democratic 
party in sympathy with the Confederacy was now congregated at Chicago. 
Evidences were not wanting that this meeting would give relief to the admin- 
istration and confidence to the friends of the Union, and that the labors and 
results of that Convention would strengthen the Union cause, and prove an 
ally, instead of an enemy, to the restoration of the National authority. In 
reviewing, at this time, the incidents and events that transpired during the 
first four years of President Lincoln's administration, we see the direction of 
that overruling Providence, in the spirit and acts of that Convention, which 
was 80 conducted and directed that its action strengthened the Union cause, 
which it intended to subvert and destroy. Mr. Vallandigham, who had been 
sent to his friends in the South by the President, and who had returned 
without leave, was the leading spirit and figurehead of the Convention. Mr. 
Long, member of Congress from Ohio, who had declared himself in favor of 
recognizing the rebel Confederacy, and who had been declared by^the House 
of Representatives as an unworthy member of that body, was conspicuous on 
that occasion, as were a full representation of those who had opposed coercion 
and who still sympathized and gave aid and comfort to the rebellion. Mr. 
Vallandigham was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, 
He was treated by the Convention as one who had suffered martyrdom for 

251 



252 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

the Democratic party. He who had been defeated for Governor of his State 
by over one hundred thousand votes, was the most active and influential 
member of the Convention, and his sympathizing friend, Governor Seymour 
of New York, was made President of the Convention. The platform adopted 
was made up largely of denunciations of the policy and course of the admin- 
istration for the suppression of the rebellion. It gave no plan or policy for 
the restoration of the Union, but demanded that there should be a cessation 
of hostilities. General George B. McClellan was nominated for President, 
and George H. Pendleton for Vice-President. The Convention, after finish- 
ing up its business, adjourned, subject to be called together again at any 
time or place that its Executive Committee might designate. This action of 
the Convention, so unusual and peculiar, seemed to indicate purposes and 
possibilities that might arise, which was considered as not in keeping with 
the patriotism it had assumed. From the time the Convention adjourned, 
the feelings of uncertainty and doubt that seemed to have prevailed with the 
friends of the adminstration, were entirely dispelled, and confidence was 
fully restored, and all, even many of the Democratic leaders, anticipated the 
triumph of the Republican party. 

In October, the question of the adoption of a new constitution for the 
State of Maryland was to be submitted to the people, in which was a pro- 
vision for the abolishment of slavery in that State. In this connection, it is 
proper to state that there was a disagreement between Walter H. Davis, 
Senator, a prominent anti-slavery and Republican leader of that State, 
and Montgomery Blair, a member of the Cabinet, which, in the President's 
judgment, endangered the adoption of the free State Constitution. A resolu- 
tion adopted by the Baltimore Convention was : "We deem it essential to 
the general welfare that harmony should prevail in our National councils, 
and we regard as worthy of confidence and official trust only those who 
cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions." It was 
understood that the foregoing resolution referred to Postmaster-General 
Blair, who, on the passage of the resolution, placed his resignation in the 
hands of the President, to be used if the President considered that circum- 
stances rendered action in that direction desirable. The President became 
satisfied that the cause of the Union party in Maryland would be promoted 
by the retirement of Mr. Blair from the Cabinet, and his resignation, which 
had been in the hands of the President for sometime, was formally accepted, 
and he was succeeded by ex-Governor William Dennison of Ohio. A short 
time before this change in the Cabinet, the President wrote to a convention 
of the friends of the new constitution in Maryland, in which he expressed 
his great desire for its adoption. He said: "It needs not to be a secret, 
and I presume it is no secret, that I wish the success of the provision for the 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 253 

abolishment of slavery in your State. I desire it on every consideration. I 
wish to see all men free. I wish the National prosperity of the already free, 
which I feel the extinction of slavery would bring." The result of the 
election in Maryland indicated the progress and march of public opinion in 
the direction so much desired by the President and the friends of the Union, 
and this was consummated by the popular vote in the abolishment of slavery 
in that State, on the 8th and 9th of October, 1864. On the result being 
known, the President was serenaded by the Union citizens of that State 
then in Washington, as an expression of their satisfaction at the result. The 
response of the President will give, to some extent, the subject of public 
discussion at that time, and the President's views : 

" It is regarded by some that the Chicago Convention adjourned, not sine 
die, but to meet again if called to do so by a particular individual, as the 
intention of a purpose that if its nominee shall be elected he will at once 
seize control of the Government. I hope the good people will not permit 
themselves to suffer any uneasiness on that account. I am struggling to 
maintain the Government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling specially to 
prevent others from overthrowing it. I therefore say that, if I live, I shall 
remain as President until the 4th of next March, and that whosoever shall be 
constitutionally elected in November shall be duly installed on the 4th of 
]March, and in the interval I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the 
helm of State for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance 
of saving the ship," 

A Convention had been called in Tennessee by Andrew Johnson, who 
was at that time Governor, to reorganize the State in order to take part in 
the approaching Presidential election. The form of an oath was adopted for 
those who desired to vote. The oath was one that no loyal citizen would 
refuse to take. There was this clause in it: " I will cordially oppose all 
armistices and negotiations for peace with the rebels in arms until the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and all laws and proclamations made in 
pursuance thereof, shall be established over all the people of every State 
and Territory embraced within the National Union." It will, of course, be 
seen at once that there were many voters in Tennessee who would be unwill- 
ing to take that oath, especially those who subscribed to the Chicago platform 
and favored the election of McCIellan. The friends of McClellan protested 
against this oath, and a committee was appointed to bear their protest to the 
President. The President did not receive the committee very graciously. 
He had no faith in the loyalty of any citizen who could not subscribe to the 
oath required. He also felt that it was a matter in which he, as President, 
had no right to interfere. The action of the Convention and of Governor 
Johnson had not been instigated or recommended by him, and he would not 



254 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEKVICES 

interfere' with any Presidential election, except to give protection against 
violence and intimidation. 

The McClellan ticket in Tennessee was withdrawn, and still the peace 
party continued to charge the President with interfering in the elections, 
notwithstanding he had publicly refused to do so. 

The [President's call for five hundred thousand men in July, which, if 
not raised by the 5th of September, would be drafted, was made a subject of 
public clamor and vituperation by the disloyal element, and even the friends 
of the President urged him to delay the call till after the election, as it 
might defeat and jeopardize the success of the Union elections. His rejtly 
was that the soldiers were needed to reinforce the armies then in the field, 
and that it was his duty to call for them, regardless of the consequences to 
himself — another instance in which the President sacrificed all personal and 
political considerations for the public good. 

The result of the State elections gave hope and promise of success to the 
Union party in the approaching Presidential election. The signal failure of 
the Chicago Peace Convention to rally to the support of its nominees, the 
loyal Democrats, gave assurance of Mr. Lincoln's triumph, and the success 
of the Union party, and the success of our armies in the field indicated that 
the days of the rebel Confederacy were nearly numbered. The Presidential 
canvass had been conducted by the disloyal element with a bitterness and 
malignity against the President rarely, if ever, equaled ; but the President 
was too deeply enthroned in the hearts of the people for their calumny to be 
eflfective. The country was so thoroughly committed to the prosecution of 
the war and the policy of the President for the restoration of the Union, 
that all attempts to destroy the faith of the people in the President, were 
abortive. The day of election finally came, and the results were as had been 
anticipated. Every State but three gave majorities for the Union candidate. 
Two slave States — Delaware and Kentucky — and the State of New Jersey 
gave their votes for McClellan. Mr. Lincoln's majority on the popular vote 
was 411,428, and 212 of the 233 in the Electoral College. The election was 
conducted with a solemnity and dignity unusual and unprecedented in the 
history of the country. Loyal citizens felt that the questions {involved were 
above all party considerations, and that upon the issue was the weal or woe, 
the restoration or final dissolution of our National unity. The heavy burden 
that had been carried by the President for the past four years had been lifted 
from his 'shoulders by the people. With that solemn oath always in mind, 
to pre^rve, protect and defend the constitution, with the interests of human- 
ity, the future of his country, and the destiny of a race, he had, weary and 
worn, labored in and out of season for the consuuimation of these great 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 255 

objects, and, with a heart full of sj'rapathy and charity toward his enemies, 
and with devotion to humanity, he had striven [to do his duty. And now 
well might the President feel that relief from the responsibility that had 
nearly worn away his life. His policy for the National authority, and for the 
unity of the Republic, his Emancipation Proclamation, his plan for the recon- 
struction of the rebel States, had now been indorsed, and received the 
approval of the American people by a majority unparalleled in the history of 
the Nation. To a large number of his fellow-citizens who called upon him to 
offer their congratulations, he said : "I am thankful to God for this approval 
of the people, but, while deeply gratified for this mark;||of their confidence in 
me, if I know my own heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal 
triumph, I do not impugn the motives of anyone opposed to me. It is no 
pleasure for me to triumph over anyone. But I give thanks to the Almighty 
for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government and 
the rights of humanity. This election has demonstrated that a people's 
Government can sustain a National election in the midst of a great civil war. 
Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a possibility. It 
shows, also, how strong and sound we are. It also shows to the extent 
yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began. 
Gold is good in its lolace, but living, brave and patriotic men are better than 
gold." To a friend he said : "Being only mortal after all, I should have 
been a little mortified if I had been beaten in this canvass before the people, 
but that sting would have been compensated by the thought that the people 
had notified me that all my official responsibilities were soon to be lifted 
from my shoulders." The result of the election, giving joy, hope and assur- 
ance of ultimate success to the Union cause, demolished the last expectation 
and hope of the rebel Confederacy. The result showed conclusively that 
there would be no change in the course and policy of the Government for 
the suppression of the rebellion. Events were now rapidly culminating, 
giving the rebel leaders no hope that their final defeat and overthrow could 
long be averted, and still, with that indomitable persistence peculiar to all 
Americans, in what they believe is right, there was no giving way until the 
last struggle was made and the unavoidable overthrow should come. Amidst 
the cares of office and the excitements incident to the satisfactory results 
and congratulations following the election, the President found time to write 
and forward the following touching, sympathetic letter to a widow lady : 
" Executive Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864. 
" Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department 
a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts, that you are the 
mother of five sons, who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel 
how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine, which should attempt 



256 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

to be given you from a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from 
tendering to you the consolations that may be found in the thanks of the 
Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage 
the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory 
of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be jours to have laid 
so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and 
respectfully, Abraham Lincoln." 

"To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass." 



CHAPTER XLV. 

MOVEMENTS OF GENERALS GRANT AND SHERMAN. 

Experience had taught the administration and the American people some 
useful lessons relative to the rebellion, and the means and forces necessary to 
subdue it, in the military operations during the past three years. The idea of 
the Southern people that they were superior in bravery and valor to the 
Yankees, and that notion of tlie Northern citizens that two or three Union 
victories would bring the rebels into submission and terms, had long since 
been discarded. That principle of military tactics fulh' established that 
armies operating on an interior line in their own country, with their base of 
supplies in their rear and always at command, are equal to double their num- 
bers of equal valor operating on an exterior line of operations, had been fully 
demonstrated by experience. The action of the Union armies after having 
given battle successfully, and then failing to follow up their successes with 
immediate and repeated attacks, in many instances, had often proven but 
little less than a defeat. 

With the experience of three years of the Government to subdue and put 

down the rebellion, at this period these facts became vividly apparent to the 

administration : That if the rebellion was put down it must be done speedily ; 

that it nmst be done by military force, by rapid and repeated attacks, until 

the rebel armies were entirely defeated. And to effect this, the Union 

armies must be largely in excess of numbers to the rebel forces. The military 

operations of 1864 were organized with these objects in view. It was a time 

in which all the energies and resources of the Government were brought into 

requisition. It was intended that such results and success should follow, 

that the people would be satisfied that the end of the rebellion was at hand, 

and that peace would follow, and the National authority would soon be estab- 

blished over all the rebellious States. To the grand armies organizing under 

Generals Grant and Sherman was the principal interest manifested by the 

people, and their movements became the focus of absorbing interest. Still, 

257 



258 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

there were operations of troops under other officers which should be noted. 
An attempt was made early in February, by a portion of the Union troops 
under General Gillmore in Florida, to assist the Union element in that State 
to reorganize under the National Government, but the attempt proved a fail- 
ure at that time. General Sherman, from Vicksburg, and General Smith, 
from Memphis, with a heavy force of cavalry were successful in destroying 
railroads and supplies, and cutting off communications in the enemj''s interior. 
General Kilpatrick made his famous raid and dash on Richmond, blowing up 
the locks of the Kanawha canal, destroying railroads and telegraph communi- 
cations, and dashing within the defenses of the rebel capital. In March, 
General Bank's expedition up Red river proved a failure. In the capture of 
Fort Pillow in April by the rebel forces, occurred an outrage unparalleled in 
the history of the war. The garrison, after the surrender, composed of some 
three hundred colored soldiers, women and children, were butchered, and their 
white officers met the same fate ; and this butchery was approved by the 
Southern papers. No historic event of modern times has a parallel of like 
atrocity and barbarity. 

In April, General Sherman had collected his forces at Chattanooga, while 
directly in his front was General Johnson, with the rebel army, awaiting the 
movement of the Union forces. General Meade, with the Army of the 
Potomac, was on the banks of the Rapidan, with General Lee immediateh^ in 
front. It was now apparent that the last great struggle was near at hand. 
The Confederacy had, by conscription and all the appliances of their absolute 
Government, collected in every available man for the great, and as they had 
reason to believe, their final effort for success. General Grant's appointment 
as Commander-in-Chief of the Union armies met the approval of the loyal 
citizens. He had visited the Army of the "West, and in consultation with 
General Sherman, all the plans of the campaign had been perfected, when he 
returned to AVashington and assumed the general direction and movement of 
all the armies in the field. The administration had made every exertion to 
place all the men and material desired at his disposal. The confidence of the 
President in General Grant was fully expressed in a letter to him, m which 
the President said : " The particulars of your plans I neither know or seek to 
know. You are vigilant and self-reliant, and, pleased with this, I wish not 
to obtrude any restraints nor constraints upon you." General Grant said, in 
response to Mr. Lincoln"^ letter: "From my first entrance into the volun- 
teer service of my country to the present day, I never have had cause of com- 
plaint. Indeed, since the promotion which placed me in command of all the 
armies, and in view of the great responsibility and importance of success, I 
have been astonished at the readiness with which everything asked for 
has been yielded, without even an explanation being asked." With the 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 259 

general plan of the movements of the troops and'outline of the campaign the 
President was in full accord with General Grant, while the minor details and 
movements of the troops were left entirely under his direction. 

The military successes of Generals Grant and Sherman in the West had 
given them popularity which was the outgrowth of confidence, nobly and 
brilliantly won, and they entered upon the great work before them, conscious 
of this confidence reposed in them by the armies under their commands, and 
by Union citizens and the administration. Encouraged and (strengthened by 
this trust and confidence, they were determin\Bd that those expectations 
should not be disappointed. Every preparation having been made, the 
Army of the Potomac, under the immediate command of General Meade, but 
directed by General Grant, on the 3d day of May broke up camp, crossed the 
Rapidan and commenced its march toward Richmond on the right of General 
Lee's positions. The crossing of the river was effected without opposition, 
and on Wednesday following commenced the battles of the Wilderness. The 
fighting of this first day was prolonged until late in the evening with no 
material or decisive results, except that the Union army had successfully 
established itself firmly on the right of General Lee's position and was in 
position to assume the offensive on the morrow. A general advance was 
ordered by General Grant at daylight, in which both armies were actively 
engaged. The battle raged during the day along 'the whole line, with varied 
success on both sides, and only closed on the approach of darkness. The 
loss on the Union side during the two days' fighting, killed and wounded, 
was near 15,000 men, while that of the rebels was not less. General Grant 
was able to hold his position at the close of the day. On Saturday, there 
was some fighting in the morning in front, but it was soon apparent that 
General Lee was falling back to Spottsylvania Court-house, for which place 
General Grant at once pushed his whole army. On Sunday, General Grant 
had massed the Union army in the vicinitj'of Spottsylvania Court-house, and 
found that the enemy was there in position. Considerable fighting had taken 
place, and Fredericksburg, a new base for supplies, had been taken and 
occupied by the Union army on Sunday night. On Monday, the 9th, the 
armies were confronting each other, and on that day and Tuesday the fighting 
was renewed, and was continued on Thursday. The result of that day was a 
brilliant success for the Union armies. A dispatch to Secretary Stanton from 
General Grant, says: "The eighth day of battles closes, leaving between 
three thousand and four thousand prisoners in our hands, two Generals and 
over thirty pieces of artillery." The enemy fell back and fortified. After 
the successes of the 13th the armies remained inactive several days. The 
Union army receiving reinforcements and supplies, sending the sick and 



260 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

wounded to the hospitals 'at Washington and the rebel prisoners to the 
prison depots. On the 20th General Grant ordered a new flank movement to 
the right of the enemy's position, and this flank movement was continued 
with success until the Union army reached and crossed the Pamunky, with 
the White House as a base of supplies. General Lee, with the rebel 
army, followed on an interior line, and again confronted General Grant in 
his position. Here a series of battles occurred. General Grant endeavoring 
to force Lee back from his positions, but after several attempts he found the 
enemy too strongly posted a,nd too well supported for his positions to be taken 
by assault. Previous to this time, General Butler, from Fortress Monroe, 
with a large force, had ascended James river, taken City Point and fortified 
and held Burmuda Hundred. This was a very important and strategic move- 
ment in the plan of General Grant's campaign. In the meantime. General 
Sheridan's cavalry raid, in rear of the ememy's forces from Spottsylvania, 
was an expedition bold in its conception, successful in its results, while our 
army was receiving all needful supplies. The supplies of the enemy were 
destroyed by General Sheridan, and their railroad communication were cut 
and so impeded that their position became daily more precarious and supplies 
were more difficult to obtain. General Grant, finding the enemy too strong 
in front, conceived and carried out his favorite strategic movement, which 
was so successful at Vicksburg, and that was to plant his army on the enemy's 
communications by railroads in the rear of Richmond, and hold the rebel 
army there until their supplies were exhausted, or compel them to come out of 
their intrenchments and give the Union army battle on equal terms, which 
he so much desired. On the night of the 12th of June, after every prepa- 
ration had been made, the army commenced its flank movement for James 
river. The movement was entirely successful and a surprise to the eneni}', 
who were unable to offer any resistance ; and on Tuesday night the Union 
army had crossed the James river and taken position south of Richmond. It 
was General Grant's aim, after crossing the Rapidan, if possible, to bring on 
a decisive action and crush General Lee's army before reaching Richmond ; 
but, from the character of the country, its unusual facilities for defense, and 
the skill of the rebel General, this desirable object could not be effected. 

A series of victories and advantages had been gained, and in a campaign 
of forty days the enemy had been forced back from the Rapidan to Richmond, 
but no decisive results had been obtained. Heavy losses had been sustained 
by the Union army, while the rebels had suffered severely. General Grant 
had now placed his army under his immediate command, in a position where 
he could hold the rebel army under Lee in Richmond, while he would strike 
at the life of the rebellion in other parts of the rebel Confederacy. While 
Grant was holding Lee in Richmond, it was evident that the rebel General 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 261 

had but few men to spare to assist his subordinates in other parts of tlie 
Confederacy. 

On the 2d daj' of May, simultaneous with General Grant's movement for 
Richmond, General Sherman sent his army in advance from Chattanooga, 
the objective point being Atlanta. His army consisted of three corps com- 
manded by Generals Thomas, McPherson and Schofield, numbering 98,797 
men and 254 guns. In this march of General Sherman's similar obstacles 
were to be overcome, as in the advance on Richmond, with this additional 
difficulty, that each day's advance carried the army still further from its base 
of supplies to which the avenues must be kept open, while the enemy had the 
advantage of positions, and a thorough knowledge of the field of operations, 
and an interior line of communications for supplies and reinforcements. The 
object of this campaign was brilliant in conception, hazardous in its execution 
and grand and successful in its results. General Sherman, in his advance, 
adopted the tactics of feeling his enemy in front, and if too strongly posted 
to move on his flank ; and, thus fighting and flanking from day to day, he 
drove Johnson from Ringold, Buzzards Roost, Resaca, Kensaw Mountain, 
Dalton to Atlanta. A series of battles had.iseen fought during this advance, 
and, in all, the advantage remained with the Union forces. On the approach 
of the Union army to Atlanta, Johnson was superceded in command of the 
rebel army by General Hood, who at once assumed the offensive. Hood's 
first attack on the Union lines was on the 22d daj- of July. He was repulsed 
with a loss of eight thousand men. On the 28th and 31st, General Hood 
renewed his attacks and was repulsed and defeated, in the three engage- 
ments having lost half his army. He then retreated behind the defenses of 
Atlanta. Here, within the defenses, the rebel army remained a month 
besieged, while General Sherman was destroying the railroads in different 
directions leading from Atlanta. General Hood, finding he could not escape 
from the net that was being woven, evacuated the town, and Atlanta was 
occupied by General Sherman and his victorious army September 2d. General 
Hood then set out to destroy Sherman's communications, but being defeated 
at every point, he started on a grand march for Nashville, hoping to retrieve 
his losses and disgrace. General Sherman sent back to General Thomas, 
who was in command there, a portion of his army and material of war, and 
then made preparation for finishing up his march through Georgia. 



CHAPTER XL VI. 

NATIONAL AFFAIRS — CLOSE OF 1864. 

During the j'ear 1864, several changes occurred in the Cabinet. At the 
close of the fiscal year, June 30th, Mr. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, ten- 
dered the resignation of his office to the President, which was accepted. The 
office had been administered with distinguished ability and success by Mr. 
Chase, and the resignation was unexpected. The immediate cause was said 
to have been a conflict of opinion between the Secretary and tlie President 
relative to appointments in Mr. Chase's department, but without doubt there 
were personal causes growing out of Mr. Chase's aspirations for the Presi- 
dency. The President tendered the appointment, to fill the vacancy, to Ex- 
Governor Todd of Ohio, who declined the honor, when the President named 
W. P. Fessenden of Maine, a member of the United States Senate, and Chair- 
man of its Finance Committee, who reluctantly consented to accept, after 
much personal solicitation by the President. 

Mr. Fessenden, who had given a cordial support to the financial measures 
of Secretary Chase, upon entering on his new office pursued the policy of his 
predecessor with much judgment and discretion. In giving notice to the 
public of the readiness of the Treasury Department to receive subscriptions 
to a new issue of 300,000,000 ot seven-thirties convertible into bonds, he 
said to the people of the United States: " The circumstances under which 
this loan is asked for and your aid invoked, though differing widely from the 
existing state of affairs three years ago, are such as afi"ord equal encourage- 
ment and security. Time, while proving that the struggle for National unitj^ 
was to exceed in duration and severity our worst anticipations, has tested the 
National strength and National resources an extent alike unexpected and 
remarkable, exciting equal astonishment at home and abroad. Three years 
of war have burdened you with a debt which but three years since would 
have seemed beyond your ability to meet. Yet the accumulated wealth and 
productive energies of the Nation have proved to be so vast that it was borne 

with comparative ease, and a peaceful future would hardly feel its weight. 
262 



J 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 263 

As a price paid for National existence and the preservation of free institutions, 
it does not deserve a moment's consideration. TIius far the war has been 
supported and carried on as it only could have been — by a people resolved, at 
whatever cost of blood and treasure, to transmit unimpaired to posterity the 
system of free Government bequeathed to them by the great men who framed 
it. This deliberate and patriotic resolve has developed a power surprising 
even to themselves. It has shown that in less than a century a nation has 
arisen unsurpassed in vigor and exhaustless in resources, able to conduct 
through a series of years a war on its most gigantic scale, and finding itself, 
when near its close, almost unimpaired in all tlie material elements of power. 
It has at the present moment great armies in the field facing an enemy appar- 
ently approaching a period of utter exhaustion, but still struggling with a 
force, the greater and more desperate as it seems, and because it sees the 
near approach of a final and fatal consummation." 

In December, Attorney-General Edward Bates of Missouri resigned his 
office in the Cabinet, and was succeeded by James Speed of Kentuckj-. 

An important vacancy occurred in the United States Supreme Court by 
the death, on the 12th day of October, of Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice. The 
friends of Mr. Chase, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, at once urged that the 
appointment of Mr. Chase would be eminently proper, and that he possessed 
in a high degree qualifications for that important office. There was much 
antagonism to the appointment, and the President in this case, as was his 
usual custom, was ready and willing to hear all the arguments for and against 
the appointment, which he had from the first decided to make. Those who 
tried to influence and arouse the prejudices of the President against the 
appointment, by urging that Mr. Chase had used the patronage of his depart- 
ment to advance his own aspirations for the Presidency, vexed him, because 
it intimated that he could be influenced by personal ajid selfish motives. To 
a friend he said that there were two considerations that would control him in 
the appointment — first, the man appointed must be an anti-slavery man from 
principle ; and second, he must thoroughly understand the financial policy of 
the Government. Those principles being possessed by Mr. Chase in an 
eminent degree, his appointment was sent into the Senate on the second day 
of the session, and was unanimously confirmed by that body. 

The President's message at the meeting of Congress, in December, 1864, 
was an able, interesting, business, State paper. The condition of our foreign 
relations was stated as being reasonably satisfactory. After briefly review- 
ing the financial and other department reports, the President passed to the 
presentation of his \aews on the leading question of the domestic interests, in 
relation to the war and the continuance of slavery in the country. Said he : 
" Important movements have occurred during the year to the eiTect of 



264 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

moulding society for the durability of the "Union, and although short of com- 
plete success, are much in the right direction. That twelve thousand citizens 
in each of the States of Arkansas and Louisiana have organized loyal State 
Governments with free constitutions, and are earnestly struggling to maintain 
and administer them. The movement in the same direction, more extensive 
though less definite, in Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee, should not be 
overlooked. But Maryland presents the example of complete success. Mary- 
land is secure to liberty and Union for all the future. The genius of 
rebellion will no more claim Maryland. Like another foul spirit driven out 
it may seek to tear her, but it will woo her no more. 

" At the last session of Congress a proposed amendment of the constitu- 
tion, abolishing slavery throughout the United States, passed the Senate, but 
failed for the lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of Represent- 
atives. The present is the same Congress, and the members are nearly the 
same, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who stood 
in the opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage 
of the measure at the present session." The President then noted the fact 
that, notwithstanding the drain and losses by the war on the voting popula- 
tion, that in twenty-four loyal and border States the increase in the vote, 
during the three and a half years of the w^ar, was 145,751, demonstrating the 
fact that we have more men now than when the war began. 

Of the position of the Government toward the rebellion, the President 
said: " Material resources are now more complete and abundant than ever. 
The National resources then are unexhausted and, as we believe, inexhaust- 
ible. The public purpose to re-establish and maintain the National authority 
is unchanged and, as we believe, unchangeable. The manner of continuing 
the effort remains as chosen. After a careful consideration of all the evidence 
accessible, it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with the insurgent 
leader would result in any good. He would not accept of anything short of 
the severance of the Union. His declarations to this effect are explicit and 
often repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords us no excuse 
to deceive ourselves. We cannot voluntarily yield it. Between him and us 
the issue is distinct, simple and inflexible. It is an issue which can only be 
tried by war and decided by victory. If we yield, we are beaten. If the 
Southern people fail him, he is beaten. Either way it will be the victory and 
defeat following war. What is true, however, of him who leads the insurgent 
cause is not necessarily true of those who follow. Although he cannot so 
accept the Union, they can. Some of them, we know, already desire peace 
and reunion. The number of such may increase. They can at any moment 
have peace ; simply by laying down their arms and submitting to the 



I 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 265 

National authority under the constitution. After so much, the Government 
could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would 
not sustain or allow it. If questions should remain we would adjust them by 
the peaceful means of legislation, conference, courts and votes. The way is 
still open to all, but the time may come, probably will come, when public 
duty shall demand that it be closed, and that in lieu, more vigorous measures 
than heretofore shall be adopted. In presenting the abandonment of armed 
resistance to the National authoritj-^ on the part of the insurgents, as the onlv 
indispensable condition to ending the war on the part of the Government, I 
retract nothing as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made a year ago, and 
that while I remain in my present position, I shall not attempt to retract or 
modify the Emancipation Proclamation. Ncr shall I return to slavery any 
person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any acts of Con- 
gress. If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an 
e.xecutive duty to re-enslave such persons, another — not I — must be their 
instrument to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace, I mean 
simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the Government when- 
ever it shall have ceased on the part of those who began it." 

We can appropriately close this chapter with the following proclamation 
issued by President Lincoln for a day of National thanksgiving, to be observed 
November 24, 1864 : "It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our National 
life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly 
designs from abroad, and vouchsafed to us in His mercy, many and signal 
victories over the enemy, wlio is of our own household. It has pleased our 
Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers 
in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas, with unusual health. 
He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by emi- 
gration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth, and has crowned 
the labor of our working men in every department of industry with abundant 
reward. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds 
and hearts with fortitude, courage and resolution sufficient for the great trial 
of civil war, into which we have been brought by our adherence, as a Nation, 
to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes 
of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do 
hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day 
which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may 
be, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God, the benificent 
Creator and Ruler of the Universe ; and I do further recommend to my fel- 
low-citizens aforesaid, that on that occasion they do reverently humble them- 
selves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and 



266 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

supplications to the Great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable 
blessings of peace, union and harmony throughout the land which it has 
pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and our posterity 
throughout all generations." 

While our good President was using all the means and appliances that a 
loyal people were placing in his hands for the restoration of the Union, and 
the subjugation to the National authority of those who were in arms against 
it, how fervently does he call upon his fellow-citizens for their prayers and 
supplications to the Great Giver of all our blessings for a return of " peace, 
union and harmony," in our land, carrying with these invocations a spirit of 
Christian love and brotherhood, which would gladly receive the return of the 
misled, misguided and erring members of the Union, in that spirit of for- 
giveness and charity, which would make the reunion again a blessing to all 
and reunite in bonds of fraternal unity and affection never again to be sev- 
ered, a brotherhood of States , which would make our Nation wonderful in its 
resources and advancements to a higher civilization, and the admiration of 
the world — a refuge for the down-trodden and oppressed of every land — a 
people honored and respected at home and abroad, and a dwelling place to 
be desired " for ourselves and our posterity throughout all generations." 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

SHERIDAN'S VICTORIES — SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA — DEFEAT OF HOOD. 

Simultaneously with the news of the evacuation of Atlanta by the rebel 
forces, came the pleasing intelligence of the brilliant operations of Commodore 
Farragut's fleet in the capture of the important fortresses at the entrance to 
Mobile bay. 

In August, 18(M, General Sheridan was appointed to the command of the 
middle dmsion of the department, including the protection of Washington 
and Northern Virginia. His operations up to the 15th of September were 
confined to strengthen and protect the line of the Potomac. On the 18th the 
offensive was taken, which resulted on the 19th in an attack of the Union 
forces on General Early's army at Opequan Creek, which terminated, after a 
stubborn resistance by the rebels, in their complete defeat, and in their retreat 
to Winchester, from which place they were forced back to Fisher's Hill. 
Here the rebel forces were again assailed by the Union troops, and after a 
sharp engagement the rebels were routed with great loss, and darkness alone 
saved Early's army from total defeat and destruction. In those engagements 
Sheridan captured, on the field, twenty-five hundred prisoners, and in the 
hospitals at AVinchester he found two thousand wounded. The loss of the 
enemy in killed, wounded and prisoners exceeded six thousand. The Union 
loss was forty-five hundred. 

Sheridan followed up his successes until he entered Staunton, on the 26th, 
where a large amount of stores and supplies for the rebel army had been 
collected ; these were taken and destroyed. From this point, General Sher- 
idan fell back to Strasburg, covering the approaclies to Winchester and the 
Manassas railroad to Port Royal. On the 15th of October, General Sheridan 
was called to Washington on important business, leaving General Wright in 
command. General Early, having received re-enforcements, first made his 
apjiearance in the vicinity of the Union army on the 17th, and a body of his 
infantry and cavalry made some demonstration on the right of the Union 
forces. On the morning of the 19th the rebels renewed the attack, under 

267 



268 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

cover of a heavy fog, and advanced in force on the center and right of the 
Union army. The attack was a surprise ; the center was forced back with 
the left; apart of the artillery of the 19th corps was captured, which was 
turned upon the Union forces. The 6th corps was changed from its position 
to cover the retreat of the other corps. Meanwhile the enemy were steadily 
following up their successes. They had gained and taken possession of the 
camps and position, which were occupied in the morning by the Union forces. 
Affairs were in this condition when General Sheridan arrived at Winchester 
from Washington. Fugitives from the Union army first gave him notice of 
the Union disaster, at 10 a. m. At 11 a. m. he arrived on the battlefield, 
having rode sixteen miles in forty minutes. As he met the Union forces on 
retreat, he waved his hat and said : " Turn about, boj's, we are going to our 
camps; if I had been here this would not have haiipened." He at once 
applied his whole energies to change the results of the morning. He quietly 
united the different corps and formed a strong line of battle, just in time to 
repulse an attack of the enemy, which was followed up with an advance of 
the whole line, routing and driving the rebels, and capturing forty-three 
pieces of artillery and many prisoners. The victory was complete — night 
Intervened, which prevented greater results. 

The successes of the Union army were followed up, and on the 21st, 
General Sheridan, in his third report, completes the narrative of Early's 
signal and finished defeat. This ended the last rebel attempt to invade the 
free States by the Shenandoah valley. Sheridan ended his campaign in fortj' 
days. His loss was sixteen thousand. During the campaign, Early's loss 
was, killed and wounded, ten thousand; prisoners, thirteen thousand. It 
may be stated that his army was, in efficiency and effect, entirely destroyed. 
For energy and rapidity this campaign of Sheridan's was the most brilliant 
and efficacious of the war. 

On the 22d of October, President Lincoln addressed a letter of congratula- 
tion to General Sheridan, and said : " With great pleasure I tender to you 
and your brave army the thanks of the Nation, and my own personal admi- 
ration and gratitude, for the month's operations in the Shenandoah valley, 
and especially for the splendid work of October 19th." These successful and 
brilliant victories in the Shenandoah valley were but a part of the plan which 
General Grant was directing from his tent, on the bank of James river. It 
was the policy of the Commander-in-Chief, while holding the main army of 
the rebellion firmly in Richmond, to take advantage of this restraint by 
operating vigorously by his Lieutenants in other portions of the Rebel Con- 
federacy. It was desirable to capture Richmond, but the delay only aug- 
mented the certainty of final success, and insured the successful movements 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 269 

in distant quarters, which were gradually undermining the life of the rebellion 
and destroying its military and commercial resources! During this period 
General Grant had, step by step, pushed his lines of circumvallation steadily 
westward, closing the rebels' communications V)y the Weldon railroad, and 
gaining a position. by which he could seriously threaten the Southside railroad. 

On the 9th of November, General Sherman issued his orders for a new 
military campaign through Georgia, the objective point being Savannah, as a 
new base on the seaboard. Having given instructions relative to the march, 
General Sherman assembled his forces at Atlanta. He sent the sick, wounded 
and surplus stores to Chattanooga, and then dismantled the railroad to that 
point. He then destroyed all the storehouses, depot buildings and machine 
shops, and all public property which might be made available by the rebels 
for the purposes of war. He put his army in motion in two divisions, the 
right wing, under General Howard, left Atlanta on the 12th of November, 
followed on the 14th by the left, under General Slocum. The divisions 
marched on parallel lines following the two railroads that traversed the State. 
Tlie most strenuous efforts were made by the rebels to check the march of the 
Union army, but the efforts were fruitless and of no avail. 

On the 22d of November, General Slocum's division reached Milledgeville 
in seven days from Atlanta — ninety-five miles. Here the arm}' remained three 
days. Large numbers of horses and mules, and large quantities of provisions 
of various kinds were obtained on the march, and the army fared sumptuously 
every day. During the march the cavalry roamed throughout the adjacent 
counties, destroying the railroads in every direction, meeting with no serious 
resistance. From Milledgeville, the armies moved to Millen, a distance of 
seventy-five miles, in eight days. The object in the moderate movements of 
the army was to give time to destroy the railroads in every direction. From 
Millen to Savannah, seventy-nine miles. General Sherman made rapid 
marches, reaching, on the 9th of December, the canal which connects the 
Ogeechee with Savannah river at a point ten miles west of the city. Com- 
munications were immediately opened with Admiral Dahlgren's fleet in Port 
Royal harbor, in which General Howard said : 

" Sir — We have met with perfect success thus far. The troops are in fine 
spirits and near by. Respectfully, A. O. Howard, 

Major-General, commanding right wing of the Army." 

This was the first intelligence direct from Sherman's army, and it com- 
pletely dispelled all fears and doubts as to the complete success of the cam- 
paign. On the 10th, General Sherman advanced to within five miles of 
Savannah, and immediately made preparations for the capture of Fort Mc- 
Allister, which was the key to the city from the interior. Accordingly a 



270 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

division of the loth corps, under General Hazen, was sent forward on the 
13th, and the fort was taken by an assault and surrendered, with its entire 
garrison and stores. The Union loss was ninety, killed and wounded. 

General Sherman, with his army, was twenty-seven days marching 
from Atlanta to Savannah. The distance was over three hundred miles. 
His loss during the famous march in the entire command was sixty-three 
officers and men killed, three hundred and forty-five officers and men 
wounded and two hundred and fifty-nine men missing. On the 14th of 
December, the city was closely invested, and General Sherman was in full 
communication with the fleet under Admiral Dahlgren, who was prepared to 
bring all his available force to operate in connection with the army. General 
Hardee, the rebel commander in the city, anticipating an assault, and feeling 
confident that it could not be successfully resisted, after burning the navy- 
yard, and blowing up the rebel ironclad vessels on the morning of the 20th, 
with the main body of his forces, escaped from the city by crossing the river 
to the causeway and marched towards Charleston on the causeway road. On 
the morning of the 21st, the city was occupied by a division of the Union 
army, and the captures included eight hundred prisoners, one hundred and 
fifty pieces of artillery, thirteen locomotives, one hundred and ninety cars, 
three steamers, thirty thousand bales of cotton and a large quantity of 
ammunition and other material of war. On the 22d, General Sherman sent 
the following message to the President : 

" Savannah, Ga., December 22, 1864. 

"To Eis Excellency, President Lincoln — I beg leave to present to 
you as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty 
heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand 
bales of cotton. W. T. Sherman, Major-General." 

The President returned thanks for the gift, but more particularly to the 
General and his brave soldiers and oflicers for their operations in obtaining 
and securing the gift. 

At a meeting of the citizens of Savannah, called by the Mayor, the 27th of 
December, to take into consideration matters pertaining to the present and 
future welfare of the city, it was largely attended, and the following resolu- 
tion, with others, was adopted: "That we accept the situation, and in the 
language of the President of the United States, seek to have peace by laying 
down oar arms and submitting to the National authority under the constitu- 
tion." 

General Grant wrote to Sherman December 18th : "I congratulate you 
and the brave oflicers and men under your command on the successful ter- 
mination of your most brilliant campaign. I never liad a doubt of the result. 
When apprehensions for your safety were expressed by the President, I 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 271 

assured him that with the army you had, and with you in command of it, 
there was no danger that you would reach salt water in some place. But 
I should not have felt the same security — in fact I would not have intrusted 
the expedition to any other living commander." 

We now turn to the rebel operations in Tennessee. General Hood, after 
being forced by General Sherman back from the Union army's line of com- 
munications from Chattanooga to Atlanta, prepared for his advance into 
Tennessee in accordance with instructions, and witli the intention, as 
announced by Jeflferson Davis, of inflicting a serious blow, which would aid 
the rebel cause. It was several weeks before Hood began his advance, when 
General Thomas withdrew his forces to Franklin, eighteen miles south of 
Nashville. General Schofield was in command at Franklin, his forces con- 
sisting of General Stanley's 4th and General Cases 23d corps, and a few regi- 
ments recently mustered into tht service. On the 30th of November, General 
Schofield occupied Franklin and formed his line of battle, both flanks resting 
on the Harpeth river. The rebels moved to the attack at 4 r. m. The first 
assault was made on Wagner's brigades, who maintained the contest until 
they were overpowered and fell back in confusion, losing eight guns. The 
center line was broken, and ruin seemed certain, when General Opdyke, com- 
manding the first brigade of Wagner's division within the works, seeing what 
was taking place, without orders from his superior, gave the order to his 
command, "First brigade, forward to the works," he leading his brigade. 
He forced the rebels back and restored the Union line. On the day after the 
battle, General Stanley wrote to General Thomas, stating that the charge of 
Opdyke with his brigade saved the army from a serious defeat. The rebels 
made four distinct attacks to regain their advantage, but Opdyke held his 
position, and they were repulsed with fearful slaughter. They continued 
their attempts until midnight, when Schofield withdrew the Union forces. 
The Confederate loss was estimated at six thousand, among them Generals 
Cleburn, Gist, Adams, Stahl and Granbury were killed ; Brown, Carter, 
Maingault, Quarles, Cockeral and Scott were wounded and Gordon captured. 
The Union loss was twenty-three hundred. The battle at Franklin was a 
most important one in securing victory to the Union forces in Tennessee. 
On the night after the battle, General Schofield withdrew his forces within 
the defenses of Nashville. The enemy followed and planted their troops within 
sight of the city, throwing up a line of intrenchments, extending on each 
flank to the Cumberland river. For two weeks both armies stood confronting 
each other. The weather soon became intensely cold, and Hood's army 
suffered much in consequence. At length, on the 15th of December, General 
Thomas assumed the offensive and commenced a series of attacks on the 



272 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

enemy, which were followed up for two successive days without cessation, 
and resulted in the disastrous defeat of the Confederate army. Their line of 
defense hopelessly l)roken, they fled in confusion through Brentwood Pass, 
pursued by the 4th corps. This was continued until darkness prevented fur- 
ther pursuit. The retreat of the rebels continued beyond the Tennessee 
river. The pursuit was followed up by the Union forces until the 25th of 
December, when General Thomas ordered the pursuit to cease. The results 
of the Tennessee campaign were summed up and reported. The Union loss 
in killed and wounded, sixty-one hundred, and eight hundred missing. The 
rebel loss, twenty thousand killed, wounded and prisoners, and sixty-eight 
pieces of artillery captured. This statement would imply a loss of one-half 
of Hood's army, mustered for the invasion of Tennessee. The close of the 
year found Tennessee freed from the presence of a rebel army, and the 
invasion from which so much had been expected by the enemy turned into a 
disastrous flight. The retreat of Hood into Mississippi was followed by his 
removal from his command at his own request. For the first time in the war 
a great rebel army had been annihilated. General Grant might well say, 
" Thomas has done magnificently." This was his habit. He never lost a 
battle. He saved the Union army at Chickamauga. He was said to be- 
slow. The rebels thought he was very sure. 

During the first six months preceding January 1, 1865, the success of the 
Union arms in all directions had inspired hope and confidence, amounting to 
almost a certainty, that the days of the rebellion were nearly numbered. 
Grant had planted his army in the rear of Richmond, and held Lee and 
his army with a grip that could not be broken. Sheridan had destroyed 
Early's army in the valley of the Shenandoah. Sherman had made his 
victorious march from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and from there to Savannah. 
Thomas had defeated Hood and sent him back to Mississippi, with the loss 
of half of his army, and the remainder of his forces utterly demoralized. 
Price had been routed, defeated and driven out of Missouri. General Caaby 
was operating for the capture of Mobile, and the ports of Charleston, 
Savannah and Mobile were efficiently closed against the introduction of 
supplies for the Confederacy. 

In the Confederacy, were discontent, discoid, and a despairing call for 
help which could not be misunderstood. In their despair they were ready to 
call upon the negroes for help. The commanding (Jeneral demanded this 
measure as seemingly the only recourse for the salvation of the Confederacy. 
It was a mourful call, a call to the slaves to rivet again the chains which had 
been broken. But the call for help was like the call of one in despair witli 
no help at hand. 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

PASSAGE OF THE THIRTKENTH AMENDMENT — ABOLISHING SLAVERY. 

The most important measure passed by Congress at its thirty-eighth 
session, or at any previous session, was the passage of the amendment to the 
constitution abolishing slavery in all the States, by the decisive vote of one 
hundred and nineteen to fifty-six. This bill, it will be remembered, passed 
the Senate at the previous session, but failed to receive the requisite two- 
thirds vote in the House. At the meeting of Congress in December, the 
President, in his message to that body, had recommended and urged its 
passage during the session. The bill was as follows: 

" Be it resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress 
assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following articles 
be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States as an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States ; when ratified by three-fourths of said 
Legislatures, shall be valid to all intent and purposes as a part of said consti- 
tution, namely : 

" Article XIII, Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, 
except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly 
convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their 
jurisdiction. 

" Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- 
priate legislation." 

In the House, January 0, 1865, Mr. Ashley of Ohio called up for debate 
and legislative action the foregoing constitutional amendment, the motion 
being on its reconsideration. The debate was opened by Mr. Ashley of Ohio, 
and was continued through the sessions of the House on January Oth, 9th, 
10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 2Gth, by the following members: Hons. Orth of 
Indiana, Schofield, Thayer and Stevens of Pennsylvania, Cole and Higby of 
California, Yeaman, Cravens and Smith of Kentucky, Morrell and Wood- 
bridge of Vermont, Odell, Morris and Ilerrick of New York, Kasson and 

Grinnell of Iowa, Farnsworth of. Illinois, Smithers of Delaware, Jenckes of 

273 



274 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEKVICES 

Ehode Island, Rollins of Missouri, Garfield of Ohio, Baldwin of Massachusetts, 
Star of New Jersey and Patterson of New Hampshire, in favor of the amend- 
ment, and by Hons. Brooks, Chanier, Ward, Clay and Wood of New York, 
Bliss, Cox, Pendleton and Fink of Ohio, Malloiy of Kentucky, Voorhees 
and Cravens of Indiana, Eldridge of Wisconsin, King of Missouri, White of 
Ohio and Holman of Indiana, against the amendment. The debates elicited 
much public interest; the galleries of the House were crowded daily, and 
much solicitude was manifested as to the final result. At the close of the 
debate on the 28th, Mr. Ashley gave notice that the previous question on the 
amendment would be called and pressed to a vote at 3 o'clock p. m., the 31st. 
The House met at 12 m. on that day, and after disposing of the regular busi- 
ness, the Speaker stated the question in order was the consideration of the 
motion to reconsider the vote by which the House, on the 14th of last June, 
rejected Senate joint I'esolution No. 16, submitting to the Legislatures of the 
several States a jjroposition to amend the Constitution of the United States. 
Mr. Ashley, who was entitled to the floor, gave way to Messrs. McAllister 
and Coffroth of Pennsylvania, and Herrick of New York, for them to give 
their reasons for changing tlieir votes. The debate was further continued by 
Messrs. Brown of Wisconsin and Kalbflesch of New York in opposition to 
the amendment. Mr. Ashley says: "Mr. Speaker, I call the previous 
question on the motion to reconsider." Mr. Stiles said: "Mr. Speaker, I 
move to lay the motion on the table." The ayes and noes were ordered. The 
question was put, and was decided in the negative; ayes, 57; noes, 111. So 
the motion to reconsider was not laid on the table. The previous question 
w^as seconded and the main question ordered. The question being on the 
motion of Mr. Ashley to reconsider, the ayes and noes were ordered. The 
question was put and it was decided in the aflirmative ; ayes, 112 ; noes, 57. 
So the motion to reconsider was agreed to. The question now was on the 
passage of the joint resolution. Mr. Ashley said: "I now demand the 
previous question." 

Mr. Mallory of Kentucky — Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of order. 
My point of order is, that a motion to reconsider the vote by which the sub- 
ject now before the House which was disposed of in June last requires a vote 
of two-thirds of this body. The two-thirds vote has not been obtained. 

The Speaker — The Chair overrules the point of order. The rules of the 
House authorize every bill and joint resolution to pass by a majority vote. 
The Constitution of the United States, however, declares that no consti- 
tutional amendment shall pass except by a two-thirds vote ; on the question 
of the passage of the joint resolution the constitutional provision will oy>erate, 
and not till then. All other questions are go.verned by the rules of the House. 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 275 

Mr. Brown of AVisconsin — I ask the gentleman from Ohio to yield to me 
to offer a substitute for the joint resolution. 

Mr. Ashley — I cannot yield for that purpose. I have a substitute 
myself which I should much prefer to the original resolution, but I do not 
offer it. 

Mr. Speaker — No motion to amend would be in order at this stage. 
The joint resolution has passed its third reading and is now on its passage, 
the previous question was seconded and the main question ordered, A^hich 
was on the passage of the joint resolution. 

Mr. Dawson called for the ayes and noes, and they were ordered. The 
question was taken and it was decided in the affirmative ; ayes, 119 ; 
noes, 56. So two-thirds of the members of the House, required by the Consti- 
tution of the United States, having voted in favor thereof, the joint resolution 
was passed. 

It was the privilege of the writer to be present'at the Capitol during the 
debates on the joint resolutions, and an interested spectator on the day of 
their passage. It was a day, the most eventful and remarkable in Congres- 
sional legislation that has occurred in the history of our Rei)ublic, and the 
interest and enthusiasm of the members of the House and '.the spectators on 
that day were in unison and harmony with the important and interesting issues 
involved. 

During the roll-call, when Messrs. Coffroth, English, Ganson, Herrick, 
McAllister and Odell, Union Democrats, who had previously voted against 
the joint resolutions, voted " aye," the applause in the galleries and on the 
Republican side of the House was vociferous and could not be restrained. 
The Speaker used his gavel and repeatedly called to order, and asked 
that members should set a better example to the spectators in the 
galleries. Mr. Kalbflesch and other Democratic members remarked that the 
applause came not so much from the spectators in the galleries, but from 
members on the floor. The Speaker said : " Members will take their seats 
and observe order." The Speaker directed the clerk] to call his name as a 
member of the House. The clerk called the name of Schuyler Colfax, and 
Mr. Colfax voted " aye." This incident was greeted with renewed applause. 
The Speaker then said : "The constitutional majority of two-thirds having 
voted in the affirmative, the joint resolution is passed." This announcement 
was received by the House and by the spectators with an outburst of excite- 
ment and enthusiasm such as never before had been exhibited in the halls of 
Congress. The members on the Republican side of the House instantly 
sprang to their feet, and, regardless of parliamentary rules and decorum, 
applauded with cheering and clapping of hands. MemVjers embraced. 



276 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

hugged and kissed each other, others wept for joy ; hand-shaking and 
congratulations werej| general. Nor were the galleries, which were crowded 
to their utmost capacity, slow to follow the example. The male spectators 
seemed to vie with^memVjers in their demonstrations. They waved their 
hats, and cheered loud and long; while the ladies, hundreds of whom were 
present, waved their handkerchiefs, participating in and adding to the general 
excitement and intense interest of the extraordinary scene. A feeble attempt 
was made by the Speaker to restore order, but the attempt was like stemming 
the resistless torrent or the sweeping tornado. Finding the attempt to restore 
order fruitless, he seated himself in his ciiair,and with a look of complacency 
and serenity, folded his arms and surveyed the scene, realizing the fact that 
his authority for the present was at an end. Many of the Democratic 
members sat in their seats and looked on with a gravity and solemnity which 
plainly indicated that they had no pleasure in this joyous and festive scene. 
Twenty minutes intervened before order was fully restored. Then Mr. 
Ingersoll of Illinois said: "^Mr. Speaker, in honor of this immortal and 
subhme event, I move that the House do now adjourn." The Speaker declared 
the motion carried, and again the cheering and demonstration of applause 
were renewed. The excitement of the occasion had hardly subsided in the 
House before it was taken up in the streets and public buildings in Washing- 
ton. Men shouted, cheered and sang, and did many silly things in their 
exuberance of joy. From the fortifications around Washington the monster 
guns pealed forth their loud and joyous sounds, reverberating down the 
Fotomac, and taken up from post to post, until the glad echoes thrilled the 
hearts of the brave defenders of the Union before Richmond and sent conster- 
nation into the heart of tlie rebel Confederacy. 

The thirteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States passed 
the House of Representatives January 31, 1865, was enrolled and signed by 
the Speaker of the House. It was transmitted to the Senate February 1st, 
signed by the Vice-President, and then sent to the President by wliom it was 
approved and signed the same day. It was ratified by the States of Illinois 
and Maryland the same day, and subsequently by all the States, except 
Delaware and Kentucky, and was declared to be in force December 18, 1865. 
No citizen of the Union had more reason to rejoice on the passage of the said 
joint resolutions than President Lincoln. The event gave him great satisfac- 
tion and pleasure, and he embraced the opportunity to express his gratifica- 
tion to his friends and the public who had gathered around the Executive 
Mansion immediately after its adoption. To the large audience who had 
assembled, he said : 

" This settlement of the slavery question by the representatives of the 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 277 

people, appears to me, to be the adjustment, the final disposition of the 
controversy which has been the cause of all our troubles and difficulties. It 
has finished up, completed and verified the work and purposes of the emanci- 
pation proclamation. It will remove the principal difficulty in the reunion 
of our Republic, and the re-establishment of fraternal relations with all of 
our citizens, which, I trust, will become firm and unrevocable. The amend- 
ment now requires to be adopted by the votes of the Legislatures of the 
several States, and I trust that many of my auditors will, on their return 
home, see that this work is speedily and faithfully accomplished." 



I 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

SIMPLICITY, CHARITY AND EQUANIMITY. 

The citizens of the Repuhlic had not far to look for those elements of 
character which awakened instinctively in the minds of the people their 
love, veneration and sympathy for President Lincoln. One of those natural 
and peculiar traits of character which was the most observed and noted at 
the AVhite House, was the President's plainness and simplicity, and absence 
of all ostentation and display of any kind. A [New York correspondent 
writes: "We remember rather the ineffable tenderness which shone 
through his tender eyes, his childlike ingeniousness, his utter integrity and 
his love of country. Ignorant of etiquette and conventionalities, without 
the graces of form or manner, his great reluctance to give pain, his beautiful 
regard for the failings of others, made him worthy to bear, without reproach, 
the grand old name of gentleman ; strong without symmetry, humorous 
without levity, religious without cant; tender, merciful, forgiving, a profound 
believer in divine love, an earnest worker for human brotherhood." 

Western friends, who called at the White House, expected to see plain 
Abraham Lincoln, but they were surprised to find the same, unassuming, 
'modest man that he was in private life, when in their midst he was striving 
for success and distinction in his profession. On all occasions it gave him 
much pleasure to meet the friends of his youthful days, and they always 
received a pleasant and cordial welcome. It was a pleasure and a privilege 
which the writer enjoyed to visit Washington in December, 1864, and spend 
three months at the National capital, and to renew with Mr. Lincoln the 
acquaintance and friendship of former years. A narrative of the first inter- 
view of the writer with the President illustrates the preceding characteristics 
of the President: On the Jsecond day after my arrival in Washington, in 
company with Representative C. Cole, we called at the Executive Mansion 
and sent in our cards to the President. The messenger soon returned with 
a card to me from the President, saying: "The Cabinet have a meeting 
to-day. I shall be pleased to see you to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock." The 
278 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 270 

next morning, at the time appointed, I repaired to the ante-room adjoining 
the President's office, where I observed several Senators and others in wait- 
ing. As the clock indicated the appointed hour, I lianded the door-keeper 
the President's card, and was immediately ushered into the reception-room. 
As I entered, the President was seated at his table. He immediately arose 
and met me near the middle of the room. Extending his hand, he said : " I 
am very glad to see you, Charles," using the familiar name by which he 
always called me in former days ; " you have changed but little since last we 
met. A few gray hairs I see." I replied: "It certainly gives me great 
pleasure, Mr. President, to meet and take you by the hand after an absence 
of so many years, and I regret to observe that the labors and responsibilities 
of j^our high office have worn much on your physical appearance and consti- 
tution." He replied, after asking me to be seated: "Since the people 
called me to the position I ndw occupy, four years ago, I cannot recall a day 
devoid of care and anxiety. While the physical labors during that period 
have been beyond description, the mental excitements, responsibilities and 
hopes, followed by disappointments, have worn me away as you see me 
to-day. But," said he, with a smile of pleasure as it lightened up the care- 
worn face, " I see now much to hope for the future ; the people have, by 
their votes, approved, thus far, my administration and policy, and the posi- 
tions of Generals Grant and Sherman with their armies, give assurance that 
the days of the rebellion are drawing to a close." I replied: "Mr. Presi- 
dent, it is a gratification and pleasure to your friends that your policy has 
been approved ; and they and the people hope and rejoice with you 
in the bright prospects of the near future." Our conversation then drifted 
back to the days of our intimate and early associations in the log store and 
log cabins of the then far West, when yoivth was buoyant and the burdens of 
life were light and expectations reached out but a short distance in the future. 
After half an hour's conversation I arose and said : " Mr. President, I must 
bring this pleasant interview to a close, as I observed, as I came in, a num- 
ber of dignitaries in the ante-room awaiting an audience." He arose and 
took me by the hand, and said : " This half-hour's interview and conversa- 
tion has been very pleasant to me. I sliall feel better all day for it. You 
will come again. I shall be glad to see you at any time when not engaged, 
and in our interviews you will please call me Lincoln as in former days." 
As I left the President his words, "Please call me Lincoln," carried me 
back in my thoughts to that period thirty years {)reviou8, when the President, 
then an humble, obscure youth, was struggling in a new country, with pov- 
erty and difficulties apparently almost insurmountable, for place and position 
in his adopted State. He was tlien and there called J^incoln, by liis friends 
and neighbors, and there, in the Prairie State, where lie had risen to emi- 



280 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

nence and public favor, he was still called by that familiar name. But his 
life had been changed, he had been called by the people to an office, the 
highest in the gift of the people for the government of the people, and the 
proprieties of his position were new and novel to him. In this new relation 
with and toward the people, his elevation disclosed no evidence that he was 
elated by his high position, and we can reasonably infer that the great and 
momentous responsibilities which he had assumed and under which he 
labored, tended rather to lessen than increase his sense of his own import- 
ance. It was clearly manifest to all his old friends that his sincerity, 
simplicity and tenderness still remained. Persons who entered the Executive 
Mansion, impressed with a sense of the high honors and dignified station 
appropriately belonging to the President, found no barriers interposed between 
himself and those who thus honored him, and who came to him with their 
wants and applications for favors or redress. Those who had enjoyed his 
friendship and acquaintance in former years, found him the same kind, 
generous, true-hearted friend that he was in private life. Those rare and 
unusual traits of cliaracter, which were so noted in the life of the President 
while in the White House, were so pure, so unselfish, and so rich in loveliness 
of spirit, soon became to be lionored and appreciated by all, knowing that 
thev came from a heart overflowing with love and kindness to all, irrespective 
of wealth or position. In a subsequent interview with the President by the 
writer, a few days after the occupation of Charleston by the Union forces, 
the subject of Sherman's march through South Carolina, and the apparent 
near success of General Grant before Richmond had been the subject of our 
conversation. I said: " Mr. Lincoln, I infer from the tone and expressions 
of the loyal press, and that is, I think, an indication of public sentiment, 
that the indignation and call for retribution and exemplary punishment on 
all the rebels in arms against the Government, which were so apparent and 
strongly manifested at the outbreak of the rebellion, have, in a great measure, 
given way to sentiments of a more Christian spirit, and as an incident in 
that direction, I recollect that at the time of the capture of Fort Sumpter, 
the united voice of the loyal press and people was that Charleston, the hot- 
bed of treason and the birthplace of the rebellion, when taken, should be 
leveled to the ground, and that not one stone or brick should be left on 
another ; but at present that feeling of revenge and resentment seems to liave 
passed away." The President remarked in reply: " My own feelings have 
also changed much in that direction, and I am much gratified to see that is 
the growing sentiment of the people. In the final success of the Union 
cause, our people can afford to be magnanimous and still just. I can see and 
feel that there are many reasons why this should be so. We have not been 
fighting aliens, but misled, misguided friends and brothers, members of our 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 281 

own household, and we may grant and forgive much when we take into 
consideration what have been the teachings and influences which have 
formed and moulded the public sentiments and private feelings of that 
people. And now, when final success is obtained, which appears assured, I 
tliink the great object then to be first accomplished and to have in view, 
should be to bring back and restore the relation of the several rebel States 
to the Union and to their original and former standing. This may be done 
in a spirit of conciliation, friendship and forbearance which should character- 
ize a generous and forgiving people. To effect this desirable object, I think 
that we should deal with them as generously as the interests of the Govern- 
ment and the public safety will permit." The pages of history fail to give 
us a similar exemplification of those sublime principles and virtues of moral 
and Christian excellence, of charity, generosity and fidelity to the Govern- 
ment and to the people at large, as w-ere here exhibited in those few, simple, 
tender and benevolent words of the good President. Those cherished virtues 
of a common brotherhood, planted early in life in his heart by a devoted» 
Christian mother, bore their blossoms early in life, and luscious fruit in his 
mature years. 

Time has not diminished their fragrance nor lessened the value to us 
of those virtues so rich in their beneficence which he left as a National inher- 
itance, and which have become a Nation's treasure and the legacy of a loving, 
loyal people. The anxieties, burdens and labors which he had borne for the 
past four years were, in a measure, to be laid down, and in his kind, liberal 
heart, plans were already being formed for the welfare of the people, whose 
submission to the National authority was now about to be effected by the 
force of arms and fortune of war. 

The New York World said of the President when his work was done : 
" If we look for the elements of character which contributed to the extraor- 
dinary and constantly growing popularity of Mr. Lincoln, we have not far to 
seek. The kindly, companionable, jovial turn of his disposition, free from 
every taint of affectation, puerile vanity, parremi insolence, conveyed a 
strong impression of worth, sense and solidity, as well as goodness of heart. 
He never disclosed the slightest symptom that he was dazzled or elated by 
his great position, or that it was incumbent upon him to be anybody but 
plain Abraham Lincoln. This was in infinitely better taste than would have 
been any attempt to put on manners that did not set easily upon his training 
and habits, under the fal.se notion that he would be supporting the dignity of 
his office. No offense in manners is so intolerable as affectation, nor anything 
so vulgar as a soul haunted by an uneasy consciousness of vulgarity. Mr. 
Lincoln's freedom from any such up-start affectation was one of the good 
points of his character, as it betokened his genuineness and sincerity." 



282 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

How wonderfully the President sustained himself during those months^ 
of gloom and uncertainty which shrouded our country during the first two 
years of the war! Friends and foes were surprised, and found mtich tO' 
admire in the equanimity and uniformity of mind and temper of the President 
during this eventful period. This notable trait in his character, never yield- 
ing to despondency or anger, but, what is remarkable, continued to grow in 
self-possession and magnanimity until gentleness and firmness became the 
ruling principles of his administration. He had no word of censure, no 
denunciation for the failure of his officers on the Peninsula at Fredericksburg 
or at C'hancellorville. To the factional Union parties in Missouri who were 
quarreling among themselves and with the policy of the President, he said : 
" It is very painful to me that you in Missouri cannot or will not settle your 
factional quarrels among yourselves. I have been tormented with them 
beyond endurance for a month by both sides. Neither side pays the least 
respect to my appeals to reason. I am now compelled to take hold of the 
case." To the Albany Democratic meeting, held to denounce the President 
for the arrest of Vallandigham, for military arrests and the suspension of the 
writ of habeas corpus, he said: " I would have preferred to have met you 
on the higher platform of American citizens at such a time as this, but since 
I am denied this, I am comforted with the reflection that all Democrats do 
not believe with you." To the Southern people who were trying to destroy 
the Union, in his first inaugural address, he said: "We must not be 
enemies; though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of 
affection." In his last message to Congress he said: " The enemies of tlie 
Government can at any moment have peace by laying down their arms and 
submitting to the National authority under the constitution." 

In those kind and gentle traits of Lincoln's character we maj' measure 
the depth of agony and suffering through which he had to pass during those 
months and years of gloom and reverses, when the friends of the Union 
said : " When will the end of these calamities be ?" 

The President and the loyal people were now passing through " times 
that tried men's souls." It was during those days of National gloom and 
anguish that the President could be seen mornings, before office hours, walk- 
ing back and fortli on the corridors of the Executive Mansion with counte- 
nance indicating grief and sadness. To the lady who applied to him for the 
establishment of a hospital in a Northern State for wounded soldiers, who 
said to him : "If you will grant my petition you will be glad as long as you 
live," he said, as he bowed his head with a look of sorrow: " I never shall 
be glad any more." The lady heard his mournful words and said: "Oh, 
do not say so, Mr. Lincoln ; for who will have so much reason to rejoice as- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 283 

yourself when the Government shall be restored, as it will be?" "I know — 
I know," he said, pressing a hand on either side ; " but the springs of life are 
wearing away and I shall not last." 

" I never shall be glad any more ! " The brave soldiers were slain, the 
enemies of his country were seeking his life. "With a heart that beat kindly 
toward all, his motives were maligned, his good name condemned, greedy 
politicians and ambitious officers were about him pushing their selfish 
schemes, and he had daily experience of the faithlessness of men. " This 
great trouble," as he was accustomed to call the war, was alwaj'S on his 
mind and heart. He was always weary ; he could not sleep, and such was 
the character of the impressions he received from all his cares and toils that 
he felt that he could " never be glad any more." But the Winter of gloom 
and discontent was to disappear ; his Emancipation Proclamation and the 
victories of Gettysburg, and Vicksburg brought the sunshine of confidence 
and hope, and with this came joy and gladness to the President and to the 
people. The policy and labors of the President were now to be established 
in the faith and affections of his people, his enemies w'ere to be silenced, his 
friends to be reassured, and his person was to be regarded with love and ven- 
eration by milHons of freemen. 



CHAPTER L. 

PEACE CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON KOADS. 

Military events now rapidly transpiring indicated the early suppression 
o! the rebellion. The leaders of the Confederacy were despondent and with- 
out hope, and there was discord and a want of harmony in their counsels and 
opinions. A number of the rebel leaders, among whom was A. H. Stephens, 
Vice-President of the Confederacy, were sincerely desirous for peace, and would 
have been willing to have returned to the Union under conditions which they 
would have accepted. President Davis and other leaders were still opposed to 
any negotiations for peace or treaty, only on the basis of the recognition of the 
Southern Confederacy. President Lincoln was well aware and well acquainted 
with the resolves and views of the rebel leaders, and had no confidence or 
belief that any peace conference that might be held would produce the desired 
results. No man in the Union was more desirous of peace than the President, 
but with peace must come full recognition of the National authority over the 
rebel Confederacy. On the 3d day of February, 1865, through the voluntary 
agency of Francis P. Blair, a conference, having for its object the prelimi- 
naries of peace, was held on the steamer River Queen, in Hampton Roads, 
between President Lincoln and Secretary Seward, representing the National 
authority, and Messrs. A. H. Stephens, J. A. Campbell and R. M. Hunter, 
representing the rebel Confederacy. The interview was informal in its 
character, verbal in its transactions and barren in its results. The President, 
desirous for peace on conditions that would satisfy the loyal people of the 
country, consented to become a party to the interview, as two of the commis- 
sioners were known to be sincere in their desires for peace. In the verbal 
conference that followed, the rebel commissioners suggested and favored a 
postponement of the question of separation, and such mutual efforts of the 
two Governments so as to give opportunity for the passions of the people to 
cool. The armies were to be reduced, and the intercourse between the people 
of the two sections was to be renewed. To this the President replied that he 
jconsidered these suggestions as equivalent to an armistice, and that he could 
284 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 285 

not agree to a suspension of military movements except on the basis of a dis- 
bandment of the rebel army, and the recognition of the National supremacy 
through all the States of the Union. He further stated that the Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation was irrevocable, and that Congress had passed the consti- 
tutional amendment prohibiting slavery. That there was an earnest desire 
for peace on the part of all, does not admit of any doubt, but the President 
was committed, with truth to himself and honor to the people, to make peace 
only on the basis of National unity and the abolishment of slavery. The fol- 
lowing communication of President Lincoln to the House of Representatives, 
and the official report of the rebel commissioners to President Davis elucidates 
the principal questions verbally treated in the peace commission : 

" Executive Mansion, February 10, 1865. 

"On the morning of the 3d, the gentlemen, Messrs. Stephens, Hunter 
and Campbell, came aboard our steamer and had an interview of several 
hours' duration with the Secretary of State and myself. No question of pre- 
liminaries to the meeting was then or there mentioned. No other pensons 
were present. No papers were exchanged or produced, and it was agreed in 
advance that the conversation was to be informal and verbal, merely. On 
my part tlie whole substance of the instructions to the Secretary of State 
hereinbefore recited — first, the restoration of the National authority throughout 
all the States ; second, no receding by the Executive of the United States on 
the slavery question from the position assumed thereon in the late annual 
message to Congress, and in the preceding documents; third, no cessation of 
hostilities short of an end of the war, and the disbandment of all the forces 
hostile to the Government — was stated and insisted upon, and nothing was 
said inconsistent therewith. While by the other party it was not said that in 
any event or any condition they ever would consent to reunion, and yet they 
equally omitted to declare that they would never so consent. They seemed 
to desire a postponement of that question and the adoption of some other 
course first, which, as some of them seemed to argue, might, or might not lead 
to reunion, but which course we thought would amount to an indefinite post- 
ponement. The conference ended without result. 

Abraham Lincoln.'* 

The following is the report of the rebel commissioners : 

" Richmond, Va., February 5, 1865. 

"To THE President op the Confederate States. — Sir: Under your 
letter of appointment of the 28th ult. we proceeded to seek an ' informal con- 
ference 'with Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon the 
subject mentioned in the letter. The conference was granted, and took place 
on the 3d inst. on board of a steamer in Hampton Roads, where we met 
President Lincoln and the Honorable Seward, Secretary of State of the 



286 LIFK AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

United States. It continued for several hours and was both full and explicit. 
We learned from them that the message of President Lincoln to the Congress 
of the United States, in December last, explains clearly and distinctly his 
sentiments as to the terms, conditions and methods of proceeding by which 
peace can be secured to the people, and we were not informed that they 
would be modified or altered to obtain that end. We understood from him 
that no terms or proposals of any treaty or agreement looking to an ultimate 
settlement would be entertained or made by him with the Confederate States 
because that would be a recognition of their existence as a separate power, 
which, under no circumstances would be done, and for like reasons no such 
terms would be entertained by him from the States separately. That no 
extended truce or armistice (as at present advised) would be granted, without 
a satisfactory assurance in advance of a complete restoration of the authority 
of the United States over all places within the States of the Confederacy. 
That whatever consequences may follow from the re-establishment of that 
authoritj', they must be accepted, but that individuals, subject to pains and 
penalties under the laws of the United States, might rely upon a very liberal 
use of the power confided to him to remit those pains and penalties if peace 
be restored. During the conference, the proposed amendment to the Consti- 
tution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., was brought 
to our notice. This amendment declares that neither slavery or involuntary 
servitude, except for crimes, should exist within their jurisdiction, and that 
Congress should have power to enforce this amendment by appropriate legis- 
lation. Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein men- 
tioned, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed. Very 
respectfully, your obedient servants, Alex. H. Stephens, 

R. M. T. Hunter, 
John A. Campbell." 
The absence of reporters, and all persons except the members of the 
conference, has necessarily made the relation of the conversation on that 
occasion very meager. An account prepared by Mr. Stephens and published 
in the Augusta, Georgia, Chronicle gives some of the incidents which are very 
interesting and illustrative. It is here stated that President Lincoln declared 
that, in his negotiations for peace, he could not recognize another Government 
inside of the one of which he alone was President. " That," said he, " would 
be doing what you so long asked Europe to do in vain, and be resigning the 
only thing the Union armiesare fighting for." To this Mr. Hunter repHed 
that the recognition of Davis' power to make a treaty was the first and indis- 
pensable step to peace ; and to illustrate his point, he referred to the corre- 
spondence between King Charles I and his Parliament, as a reliable 
precedent of a constitutional ruler treating with rebels. Mr. Stephens says : 



OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. 287 

•" Here Mr. Lincoln's face assumed that indescribable expression which 
uniformly preceded his severest hits, and remarked: 'Upon questions of 
history, I must refer you to Mr. Seward, for he is posted in such things, and I 
don't profess to be ; but mj' only distinct recollection of the matter is that 
Charles lost his head.' " Mr. Carpenter, in his reminiscences, gives a version 
of a characteristic story told by the President on this occasion. They were 
discussing the slavery question, ■when Mr. Hunter reiiiarked that the slaves, 
always accustomed to work upon compulsion, under an overseer, would, if 
suddenly freed, precipitate not only themselves, but the entire society of the 
South in irremediable ruin. No work would be done, but the blacks and whites 
would starve together. The President waited for Mr. Seward to answer the 
argument; but as that gentleman hesitated, he said: " Mr. Hunter, you 
■ought to know a great deal better about this matter than I, for you have 
always lived under the slave system. I can only say in reply to your state- 
ment of the case, that it reminds me of a man out in Illinois by the name of 
Case, who undertook, a few years ago, to raise a very large herd of hogs. It 
■was a great trouble to feed them, and how to get around this was a puzzle to 
him. At length he hit upon the plan of planting an immense field of potatoes, 
and when they were sufficiently grown, he turned the whole herd into the 
field and let them have full swing, thus saving not only the labor of feeding 
the herd, but also of digging the potatoes. Charmed with his sagacity, he 
stood one day leaning against the fence, counting his hogs, when a neighbor 
came along. ' Well, well,' said he ; ' Mr. Case, this is all very fine. Your 
hogs are doing very well just now, but you know out here in Illinois the frost 
comes early, and the ground freezes a foot deep, then what are they going to 
do ? ' This was a view of the matter which Mr. Case had not taken into account. 
Butchering time for hogs was away in December or January. He scratched 
his head and at length stammered, ' Well, it may come pretty hard on their 
snouts, but I don't see but it must be root hog, or die.' " 

The terms on which peace could be obtained and assured were so clearly 
set forth by the President on this occasion, as well as at the attempt from the 
Niagara Falls negotiation, that it appeared evident that he was willing and 
anxious for peace on, and only on, the conditions that would restore the 
National authority in all the States, and satisfy the loyal Union people of the 
country. 

We may not assume that the President expected any favorable results in 
the direction of peace from this conference. He was tully acquainted with 
the sentiments of the rebel leaders, that only on the recognition of their Gov- 
ernment and separation, would they lay down their arms, and that only on 
this acquiescence by the National authority could peace be obtained. To the 



288 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

people of the South, the question of peace was the controlling thought and 
feeling of every mind. But one view, however, was entertained by the Gov- 
ernment, and a majority of the people, and that was when the National 
authority is prepared to acknowledge the independence of the Confederate 
States the war will close and peace be assured. That Mr. Davis should desire 
peace on those conditions is apparent to all. That he, knowing the sentiments 
of the loyal people, and the official declarations of the National administra- 
tion, could expect peace only on the restoration of the Union, is to be- 
presumed. Tlie Confederate Government in those futile attempts at negotia- 
tion was striving to impress the idea on the Southern people, now fast 
becoming restless and weary under the daily increasing burdens of the war, 
that all possible efforts had been made to obtain peace, and that President 
Lincoln had, witii indignity and insolence, refused and repelled all attempts 
and advances tending to that end. The object of the peace conference on the 
part of the rebel authorities was apparent on the return of the rebel commis- 
sioners to Richmond. A public meeting was called, at which President Davis 
took occasion to deliver a vindicative tirade against the National administra- 
tion, and at which meeting resolutions were passed, declaring that the terms 
offered by President Lincoln were an insult to the Southern people, and that 
the Confederates would never lay down their arms until they had achieved 
their independence. 



CHAPTER LI. 

UNITED STATES SANITARY AND CHRISTAIN COMMISSIONS. 

Soon after the call for sevent}--five thousand soldiers by President 
Lincoln on the capture of Sumpter, nian_v charitable men and women insti- 
tuted in the several States what they called Soldiers' Aid Societies. It was 
soon perceived that much more good could be accomplislied by a more general 
and thorough organization. A number of leading clergymen and physicians, 
realizing the advantages of a imity of action, and seeking no remuner- 
ation, applied to the (aovernment for recognition and moral support. This 
being obtained, they were properly organized as "The United States Sanitary 
Commission." The Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D., was chosen as its Presi- 
dent. Their intentions and designs at first were to give their professional 
advice and aid to the medical department of the field service ; but it was soon 
seen that there was a large opening before them, and that their operations 
could be very efficiently enlarged. They published and circulated among the 
surgeons of the army many valuable tracts on Hygiene, such as " Rules for 
Preserving the Health of a Soldier," " Advice as to Camping," and soon 
were added medical reports, " Reports on Amputations," " Reports on 
Dysentery," " Directions as to Army Surgeons on the Battlefield." Soon 
the opportunities and necessities of active service demanded in the field an 
active executive bodj'. With this demand, they prepared and organized their 
final grand organization of benevolence and charity on a basis as universal as 
it was noble. Three committees were appointed ; one to communicate with 
the Government, one to act and communicate with the army officers, and a 
third to act and communicate with the public. Commensurate with the 
gigantic field open for its operations, the Sanitary Commission n(jw entered 
upon its remarkable and successful career of mercy and usefulness. It now 
had the support of the Government, and affiliated with the medical V»ureau. 
The loyal people of every class and condition gathered to its support, and all 

seemed to strive for superiority in their ofTerings. The abundant and liberal 

289 



290 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



contributions soon gave the commission means for its own independent trans- 
portation. It had hospital transports, wagons, ambulances, railroad cars, 
and means secured for the safe and comfortable transportation of the wounded 
soldier from the battlefield to the hospital. As the war went on and increased 
in magnitude, so did its work increase, and also its energies and the wonderful 
efficacy and efficiency of its organization. Its departments of relief were 
divided into twelve branches, having depots in the large cities, each branch 
having a large number of auxiliaries employed in obtaining supplies. From 
these many sources, the provisions and offerings were sent to the main 
depots, there to be assorted, repacked and forwarded. At one of these 
branches, the " Woman's Central Association," there were collected stores 
of the value of over one million of dollars. At another, at Chicago, was 
furnished over a quarter of a million. Care was taken to have no waste. 
The soldiers from the different States were equally supplied, and the wounded 
rebel soldiers left on the battlefield, and the sick abandoned in the hospitals 
were to receive relief and to be tenderly cared for. Many of the boys in gray 
had reason to be thankful for the kind and merciful ministrations and relief 
afforded by the Sanitary Commissions. Its office of special relief was varied 
and general. Soldiers on their waj^ to their regiments, or on their way home 
by discharge or furlough, or on sick leave were furnished meals and lodgings. 
Seventy-five hundred soldiers were on an average thus daily or nightly 
accommodated. It had special lodges where a sick soldier, while awaiting for 
his pay or unable to reach a hospital, might stop for a time. It had stations 
where a hungry soldier, passing, could have a free meal. On the military 
lines of travel these feeding stations were permanently established. On the 
large rivers — the Mississippi, Cumberland, Potomac — it had sanitary steamers 
for transmitting supplies and transporting the sick and wounded. Whenever 
opportunity appeared, it sent supplies to the Union prisoners of war confined 
at Andersonville, Salisbury and Richmond. On every flag-of-truce boat it 
placed clothing, medicines and cordials to meet prisoners who had been 
exchanged. It examined with care the Government prison camps, extending 
its merciful supervision to the Confederate prisoners of war. With charity 
and mercy it comforted and cared for all. It had its agencies to see that no 
injustice was done to any soldier, his widow or orphan, that their claims were 
allowed and paid and that no sharper took advantage of them. Its duty in 
its department of field relief was to minister to the wounded on the battlefield, 
to furnish bandages, cordials, nourishments, to give assistance to the 
surgeons and to supply any deficiencies it could detect in the field. From 
the time it was first organized. May, 1864, to January, 1865, it gave its services 
to more than seventy-five thousand patients. It waited on the sick and 
wounded, wrote letters for them, gave them stationery, postage stamps, news- 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 291 

papers, and lightened the wearisome hours of suffering by reading magazines 
and books to them, and by friendly and pleasant conversation. The Govern- 
ment gave the Sanitary Commission a cordial and earnest support. Grand 
fairs for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission were held in Philadelpliia 
and Baltimore, attended by President Lincoln, in which he manifested his 
earnest sympathy and support of the commission by brief speeches on the 
occasions. At Baltimore, he said: "Calling it to mind that we are in 
Baltimore, we cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon the 
many people I see assembled here to serve as best they may the soldiers of 
the Union, it occurs to me that three years ago those soldiers could not pass 
through Baltimore. I would say, blessings upon the men who wrought these 
changes, and the women who have assisted them." 

But from the people at large came that liberal and generous beneficence 
which has no parallel in the history of the past. They gave it their earnest 
and hearty approval. They gave it more ; they gave it money and means 
unstinted, free and ample, as was the charity dispensed. They gave three 
millions of dollars in money, of which the Pacific States gave one million. 
They sent in also nine millions worth of supplies. 

The operations and services of the Sanitary Commission were worthy of 
the magnitude of the great civil war, the asperities, horrors and sufferings of 
which it did so much to alleviate. Philanthropists of the old world looked 
on with astonishment and admiration on the magnificent organization of 
charity and mercy to friend and foe. And they failed to find in the ages of 
the past a similar example. 

"While the physical wants and sufferings of the soldiers and sailors were 
being supplied and attended to by the Sanitary Commission, the Christain 
Commission was organized and strove to emulate in works of love and mercy 
the United States Sanitary Commission. It also received the aid and recog- 
nition of the Government. Its design was to alleviate the physical sufferings 
and promote the spiritual welfare of the soldiers and sailors. Its principal 
office was in Philadelphia, with agencies in the several States. It, too, 
received the aid of the Government in free transportation and the use of the 
telegraph lines. Steamboat and railroad companies furnished it with trans- 
portation. It followed the armies, went into the trendies and was on hand 
at every battle. Wherever there was a wounded, sick or dying soldier an 
agent of the Christain Commission was there to give hope and consolation in 
the dying hour. It gave Christian burial, whenever possible, and marked 
the resting place of tiie sleeping dead. It had its religious services in camp, 
and held its prayer meetings. It gave the soldier and sailor Bibles and 
Testaments, and various religious and moral ])ublications. It distributed 



292 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

nearly five millions of dollars in money and supplies. Untiring in their 
work of charity, those illustrious Commissions cared for the soldiers and 
sailors when they had finished their work and saved the Union. They 
organized agencies for employment and information, to find and to give to 
each one wishing a situation which he was capable of filling, and protected 
him from imposition, and assisted him in procuring his arrearages of pay and 
pensions if he was entitled to the same. 

Near the close of the war, in February, 1865, the annual meeting of the 
Christian Commission was held in Wasliington. As events then in progress 
gave assurance that it would probably be the last annual meeting of that 
benevolent body, much interest was manifested, and the attendance was large 
from all parts of the loyal .States. The meeting was held in the evening at 
the National capitol in the hall of the House of Representatives. The hall, 
galleries and corridors were filled to their utmost capacity. It was estimated 
that three thousand persons were present. Hon. George H. Stuart, Chairman 
of the Commission, called the meeting to order, and Chief Justice Chase of 
the United States Supreme Court was called to preside over the large assembly. 
Mr. Lincoln w^as present, and manifested a deep interest in the proceedings 
of the commission. Reports of its operations, receipts and expenditures for 
the last year were read. Addresses were delivered by a number of notables 
present, among whom was Richardson, correspondent for the New York 
Tribune, who gave a graphic detail of his escape from Anderson ville prison, 
and the assistance and information he received from the colored people while 
making his way through the mountains of North Carolina to the Federal 
lines. Chaplain McCabe sang his favorite, "The Battle Hymn of the 
Republic," the large audience joining in the chorus. As the melody of the 
thousands of voices echoed and re-echoed through the vast corridors of the 
capitol, the uplifted countenances of the vast multitude beamed with joy and 
pleasure in full accord with tlie harmonious strains. As the echoes died 
away, the meeting adjourned. 

The next day, some two hundred members of the commission called at 
the Executive Mansion to pay their respects to the President. The writer 
was present. The Chairman of the commission, Hon. George H. Stuart, 
made a short address to the President, in which he spoke of the great debt of 
gratitude which the country owed Mr. Lincoln. " My friends," said the 
President in reply, " neither you nor the country owe me any gratitude for 
what I have done. I trust all that has been done by us has been done as a 
work of duty. Our gratitude, all gratitude, is due to the great Giver of all 
good. To Him our thanks are due for His manifestations in the Nation's 
behalf, and for that spirit of love and charity which He has given to the 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 293 

members of the Christian Commission to faithfully discharge their duty." 
At the close of his remarks, he cordially and gratefully assented to a sugges- 
tion for prayer, and Bishop Janes oflfered, in the East-room, a brief and 
fervent petition to the Throne of Grace. The occasion was a memorable 
one, and will long be remembered by those present. 



CHAPTER LII. 

PRESIDENT Lincoln's second inauguration. 

The Thirty-eighth Congress by constitutional Umitation adjourned March 
3d, and the Senate, by proclamation of the President, was convened in extra 
session. On the 3d day of March, 1865, President Lincoln's first term of 
ofRce expired. In reviewing this period of the Nation's history it appears 
how eminently fortunate the Nation was in the administration of President 
Lincoln, whose measures secured the respect and confidence, as well as the 
unbounded affections, of the people. And equally fortunate was the President 
in the selection of his constitutional advisers. Remarks made in 1878 by our 
lamented President, Garfield, referring to President Lincoln and his Cabinet, 
will be appropriate here. Speaking of our civil war, he said : 

" Let us pause to consider the actors in that scene. In force of character, 
in thoroughness and breadth of culture, in experience of public affairs, and 
in National reputation the Cabinet that sat around that council-board has had 
no superior, perhaps no equal in our history, Seward, the finished scholar, 
the consummate orator, the great leader of the Senate, had come to crown 
his career with those achievements which placed him in the first rank of 
modern diplomatists. Chase, with a culture and a fame of massive grandeur, 
stood as the rock and pillar of the public credit, the noble embodiment of 
the public faith. Stanton was there, a very Titan of strength, the great 
organizer of victory. Eminent lawyers, men of business, leaders of States 
and leaders of men completed the group. But the man who presided over 
that council, inspired and guided its deliberations, was a character so unique 
that he stood alone, without a model in historj'^ or a parallel among men. 
Born on this day, sixty-nine years ago, to an inheritance of extreme povert}^ 
surrounded by the rude forces of the wilderness, wholly unaided by parents, 
only one year in any school, never for a day master of his own time, 
until he reat'hed his majority, making his way to the profession of the law by 
the hardest and roughest road, yet by force of unconquerable will and per- 
sistent, patient||work, he attained a foremost place in his profession. Gifted 
294 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 295 

with an insight and a foresight which the ancients would liave called divina- 
tion, he saw, in the midst of darkness and obscurity, the logic of events, and 
forecast the result. From the first, in his own quaint, original way, without 
ostentation or offense to his associates, he was commander of his adminis- 
tration. He was one of the few great rulers whose wisdom increased with 
his power, and whose spirit grew gentler and tenderer as his triumphs 
were multiplied." 

On the 4th of March, 1805, ]\Ir. Lincoln was re-inaugurate<l into tlie Pres- 
idential office. This event called manj^ friends of the President to the 
National capital. A large and loyal crowd was present, friends not doubtful 
of the future, nor fearful of the President, as on a former occasion. Chief 
Justice Chase administered the oath of office, and then the I'resident read 
his inaugural address. It was a State paper which has no parrallel in senti- 
ments of Christian excellence and charity. Its words were true and noble, 
void of resentment, and spoken in a reverent and Catholic spirit. They 
have elicited the commendation and cordial approval of just men throughout 
the civilized world. The address was as follows : 

" Fellow-Countrymen — At this, my second, appearing to take the oath 
of the Presidential office, there is less occasion that I should give an extended 
address than there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, 
of the course I proposed to pursue seemed proper. Now, at the expiration 
of four years, during which public declarations have been repeatedly called 
forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the 
attention and engrosses the energies of the Nation, little that is new could be 
presented. The progress of our arms — upon which all else chiefly depends — 
is as well known to you as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory 
and encouraging to us all. While I have the highest hopes for the future, I 
shall here venture on no predictions. On the'occasion corresponding to this 
four years ago, the thoughts of all of us were anxiously directed to the 
impending civil war. All dreaded it ; all sought to avoid it. While the 
inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted to saving tlie 
Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it 
without war — seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotia- 
tion. Both parties depreciated war ; but one of them would make war rather 
than let the Nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let 
it peuish ; and the war came. One-eighth of the whole were colored slaves, 
not distributed generally over the Union, but located in the southern part of 
it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that 
this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate 
and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend 
the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no riglit to do more 



296 WFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for 
the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
anticipated .that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, 
the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a 
result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray 
to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem 
strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing 
their bread from the sweat of other men's faces ; but let us judge not, that 
we be not judged. The prayer of both could not be answered. That of 
neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. Woe 
unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come; 
but woe unto that man by whom the offense cometh. If we shall suppose 
that American slavery is one of these offenses, which in the providence of 
God must needs come, but having continued through his appointed time, he 
now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible 
war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern 
therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a 
living God always ascribe to him. Fondly do we hope, fervently do we 
pray, that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet, if God 
wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen's two hun- 
dred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of 
blood drawn by the lash shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, 
as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ' The judg- 
ments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' With malice toward 
none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see 
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the Nation's 
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow 
and orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting 
place among ourselves and with all nations." 

Truthful, frank, forgiving, gentle, just — this last State paper of President 
Lincoln to his fellow-countrymen stands pre-eminent on the pages of history — 
eminent for its serenity of temper, lor a logical perception of the character 
of the National conflict, and for its undisputed charity and sincerity. 

On the 6th of March, Mr. Fessenden resigned the office of Secretary of 
the Treasury, and Hugh McCulloch of Indiana was appointed in his place. 
In an exhaustive report on the financial condition of the Nation, Mr. McCul- 
loch says that " since the commencement of the special session of 1861, the 
most imi)ortant subject which has demanded and received the attention of 
Congress has been that of providing the means for the prosecution of the 
war. The success of the Government in raising money is evidence of the 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 297 

"wisdom of the measures devised for this purpose, as well as of the loyalty 
of the people and the resources of the country. No Nation within the same 
period ever borrowed so largely or with so much facility. It is now demon- 
strated that a republican Government can not only carry on a war on the 
most gigantic scale, and create a debt of immense magnitude, but can place 
this debt on a satisfactorj' basis, and meet every engagement with fidelity." 
The Secretary remarks that " the establishment of the National banking 
system is one of the great compensations of this war — one of the great 
achievements of this remarkable period. In about two years and a half 
from the organization of the first National Bank, the whole system of banking 
under State laws has been superceded, and the people of the United States 
have been furnished with a circulation, bearing upon it the seal of the Treas- 
ury Department as a guaranty of its solvency. It only remains that this 
circulation shall be a redeemable circulation — redeemable not only at the 
counters of the banks, but at the commercial cities, to make the National 
banking system of almost inconceivable benefit to the country." 

In pursuance of an x\ct of Congress, on the 11th of March the President 
issued a proclamation, calling upon deserters to return to their regiments 
with the promise of pardon. This proclamation had its desired eflfect, as most 
of the absentees returned to their duty. The days of the Confederacy were 
now nearly numbered, and the life of the rebellion was now in the last throes 
of dissolution. We may here notice the objects which those who originated the 
civil war had in view, and see how far their designs and purposes had been 
attained, and how far the anticipation of those who inaugurated this unnat- 
ural war had been realized, and their efforts successful. 

The loss of political power and patronage, as has been before stated, was 
the primary cause of secession. The preponderance of numbers and power 
in the free States made it politically impossible for the slave States to retain 
their supremacy in the Union, and hence they resolved on disunion. The 
leaders attempted to justif}^ their action on the doctrine of State rights, and 
the causes they taught the people were the security and safety of slavery and 
the right of its extension. Tho.se principles on which the South justified 
its rebellion against the National Government brought out the inevitable 
consequences in antagonistic principles. Thus emancij)ation became the 
natural and necessary antagonist of slavery, and nationality that of State 
rights or secession. 

When the Union was first assailed and its laws and authority were first 
resisted, the Government had no object, other than the perpetuity of the 
Union and the enforcement of the laws. As the war progressed, the idea of 
emancipation grew into importance, and forced itself upon the Nation and 



298 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

administration. Thus emancipation became the war power of the loyal 
States, as slavery was the war offense and defense of the Southern Confed- 
eracy. When we compare them in their true relations, their intrinsic values 
at once appear. The former has the sympathy of the race, is the embodiment 
of civilization and is the word of hope and desire of the oppressed of every 
land. The power and strength of the latter were fallacies. It was circum- 
scribed and local in its influences and operation, it had no friends abroad and 
its power was decaying at home. For a time the Southern Confederacy con- 
sidered it a tower of strength and believed that it strengthened their cause, 
but before the war|was over the progress of emancipation in the border States 
dispelled this illusion. 

Secession, or State rights, contrasted with nationality, is equally weak 
and illusive. Previous to the war, the idea of nationality was in a quiescent 
State, but the sentiment was generally accepted. With secession or State 
rights came in contra-distinction, nationality. These distinctions were so 
marked during the war, that in the Confederacy few could be found who 
recollected that they were Americans and in the loyal States men had for- 
gotten to what State they belonged. Secession clamored for State rights. 
Union men were accepting the nobler idea of a great and undivided nation- 
ality. Thus slavery and secession were confronted with emancipation and 
nationality, the former perished in the conflict, and the latter remains, with 
its principles and ideas cherished. The first, emancipation accomplished ; 
the second, nationality established and held sacred and inviolate by a 
reunited and prosperous people. 



CHAPTER LIII. 
Sherman's march through the carolinas, and fall of Richmond. 

Militarj' events were now rapidly closing up the last days of the rebell- 
ion. General Sherman, at Savannah, was preparing and recruiting his 
victorious army for his march through South and North Carolina. General 
Grant was still holding General Lee and the rebel army in Richmond, only 
awaiting the proper moment for aggressive action, while offensive and 
successful movements were being prosecuted in almost every other quarter 
of the Confederacy by the Union forces. 

The 15th of January, General Sherman resumed his march from 
Savannah, his objective point being Goldsboro, North Carolina. On the 
30th the borders of South Carolina were reached. The army on the march 
subsisted upon the country ; every effort possible was made by the enemy to 
impede his onward career, but all obstacles were brushed aside as if by a 
resistless tornado ; railroads were torn up and destroyed in every direction, 
and the destruction of public property was full and complete in every quarter. 
Columbia was reached the 17th of February, and there being no adequate 
force of the enemy at hand to defend it, the Mayor came out and surrendered 
the city to Colonel Stone of General Logan's corps. With the occupation of 
Columbia came the evacuation of Charleston, Fort Sumpter and all other 
defenses of the harbor. Fayetteville, North Carolina, was reached on the 
12th of March, and now communication was opened and established Avith 
General Schofield at Wilmington, from which point supplies were furnished 
the army. Wilmington had been captured and oi-cupied by General Scho- 
field on the 14th of January, and Mobile had been taken by General Canby 
on the 11th of January. And so the Union successes and victories rolled 
resistlessly onward on every hand. Attempts were made by General John- 
son with the rebel forces, at Bentonville and Averysborough, to stay General 
Sherman's onward march, but without avail, and on the 22d of March Golds- 
boro was occupied, and here the victorious army rested for sometime, and 
General Sherman visited Citv Point for consultation with General Grant 

299 



300 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

lelative to further operations. Tlie grand campaign, conceived and inaugu- 
rated b}^ General Grant in conjunction with General Sherman, was now about 
to be consummated. The long-delayed, but now appropriate, time to move 
on the rebel army under General Lee, and on Richmond was at hand. On 
the 23d of March President Lincoln visited City Point to relieve himself for a 
time from the cares of office and to be near the military operations, which 
were now big with important issues for the Union. On the 25th General Lee 
with the rebel forces assaulted and captured Fort Steadman, but it was 
immediately retaken, with great loss to the enemy. The President visited 
the scene the same day, and was vociferously cheered by the soldiers. The 
day had been set apart for a grand review of the soldiers in honor of the 
President. But the President said : " It is better than a review." 

On the 28th of March, at City Point, a council of war was held, in 
attendance at which were the President and Generals Grant, Sherman, 
Sheridan, Meade and Ord. The next day General Sherman left to rejoin his 
army. For several days preceding the council, General Grant had been 
making new dispositions of his troops, preparatory to the grand movement 
near at hand. On Wednesday, March 29th, the next day after the council 
was held, the grand advance of the army began. Before noon a new line of 
battle was formed, the right of which occupied the extreme left of its former 
position, and preparations were at once made to hold this position. The day 
passed; only Warren's corps encountered a sharp resistance, holding its 
ground. Heavy rains during the night and next day prevented any move- 
ments by either army, the Union army perfecting their formations and their 
connections. On Friday, General Grant, on account of the preceding heavy 
rains, proposed to hold his position during the day without offensive move- 
ments. But General Lee was alive to his peril. If General Grant held his 
position the rebel army could not hold Richmond. He concentrated a large 
force on the right of the Union army, and made repeated eflforts on Friday 
and Saturday mornings to force back and retake the Union positions. In 
these repeated attempts he was partially successful, but later in the day, on 
Saturday, the ground was all retaken, and the Union troops occupied the 
positions which the rebels held in the morning, Sheridan and Warren having 
achieved decided success, taking five thousand prisoners. The next morning 
at daybreak the Union forces were directed to assault and force the rebel 
lines, which was gallantly done, and at 10 a. m. success was complete, and 
the triumphs of the three days of hard fighting were twelve thousand pris- 
oners and fifty pieces of artillery. 

While the three days' battles were in progress, President Lincoln 
remained at City Point receiving dispatches from the field, and forwarding 



I 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 301 

the material portions of the same to the War Department. On Sunday the 
President announced to Secretary Stanton the signal and triumphant success 
of our armies, and that the Union success was -full and complete. At 10 :30 
A. M., Sunday, General Lee telegraphed to Davis, in Richmond, the following 
dispatch: "My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must he 
evacuated this evening." That message found Mr. Davis at 11 a. m., in 
church, where it was handed him, and he immediately went quietly and 
soberly out — never to return as President of the Confederacy. 

Eleven months previous General (irant crossed the Rapidan with his 
army, the ostensible object being the capture or destruction of Lee's army, 
and the fall and occupation of Richmond. General Grant entered on this 
movement and campaign, having the full confidence of the administration 
and the hopeful expectation of the loyal citizens. He had from an earfy 
period of the rebellion conceived, and was fully impressed, with the belief 
and idea that the rebel chiefs would never return to their loyalty to the 
Government until their military power was fully and essential subdued and 
broken, and he knew of no mode or power save by the strongest armies in 
bloody battles. In his tlnal ;^report General Grant says: "I therefore 
determined — first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against 
the armed force of the enemy, preventing it from using the sanie force at 
different .seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and the 
possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carry- 
ing on resistance ; second, to hammer continuously against the armed force 
of the enemy and its resources, until, by mere attrition, if in no other way, 
there should be nothing left of it but an equal submission with the loyal sec- 
tion of our common country to the constitution and laws of the land. These 
views have been kept constantly in mind, and orders have been given and 
campaigns have been made to carry them out. Whether they might have 
been better in conception and execution is for the people, who mourn the 
loss of friends fallen, and who have to pay the pecuniary cost, to say. All I 
can say is that what I have done has been done conscientiously, to the best 
of my ability, and in what I conceived to be for the best interests of the 
whole country." 

It was doubtless the expectation of General Grant, when he crossed the 
Rapidan, to have defeated General Lee decisively before reaching Chicka- 
hominy, but in this he was disappointed. The rebels were, however, 
learning very fast that the conduct of General Grant in this campaign was 
more offensive, and not as satisfactory to them as the strategy of Cieneral 
McClellan. General Grant is fairly entitled to the honor of undertaking, 
with a purpose, a very difficult and formidable enterprise, and performing it 
to the best of his ability and successfully, and when he, with his army, sat 



302 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

down before Riclimond south of James river, he had placed his army just 
where the rebels desired it should not be, as they showed by their desperate 
efforts and attempts to entice and draw him from his position, and this is 
evidenced in the final overthrow and collapse of the rebellion. The campaigns 
of Sherman and Thomas may have been considered more brilliant, but none 
were more conducive in breaking and crushing the strength and power of the 
rebellion than that campaign which began on the Rapidan and ended in the 
capture of General Lee and his army. 

President Davis left Richmond at 10 p. m. Sunday. The rebel officials 
and their members of Congress, with the rebel Governor, William Smith, 
also hurried away. At 6 p. m. Monday the rebel capital was occupied by the 
Union forces, and the star, spangled banner of our Union that w^as raised 
and floated over the St. Charles, at New Orleans, when it was taken by 
General Butler, was raised over the rebel capitol in Richmond, and was 
saluted with huzzahs from the excited thousands below. Many probably 
cheered who would have done it more heartily had the fortunes of the day 
been reversed. Before leaving the city the rebel authorities issued orders 
for the destruction of the rams and shipping in James river, the warehouses 
and mills in the city, and all the bridges on the railroads leading out of the 
city. This order was executed, and in the general conflagration which 
followed one-third of the city was destroyed. The city was placed under 
military government by the appointment of General G. F. Shepley Governor, 
and Colonel Manning Provost, Marshal. The fire was extinguished as soon 
as possible, but not until it had burned the extensive warehouses, the Post- 
office, the Treasury building, the principal banks, newspaper offices and an 
immense amount of private property, amounting to many millions of dollars. 

Before noon on Monday the joyful news of the occupation of Richmond 
by the Union forces had been flashed to all parts ©f the Union, and the glad 
tidings were soon confirmed by telegrams from President Lincoln, then at 
City Point, and from the Secretary of War at Washington. This day will 
long be remembered by the American people. At once all public offices were 
closed and all business suspended by the great majority, who profoundly 
rejoiced in the great National triumph so long, so anxiously desired. Every 
church bell, and bells on the public buildings, from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, rang with joyous notes. Cannon answered cannon from mountain to 
valley, and re-echoed the Nation's joy. Men embraced each other in the 
streets, wept and clasped hands for joy, and tlie words, peace and victory, 
were on every tongue. Public meetings were called in every town and city, 
and millions listened to the deeds of the gallant heroes who had won tlio 
day; and, with cheers and thanksgiving, the people gave utterance to their 
joy and enthusiasm. In all this manifestation of joy and expression of 



OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 303 

popular feeling of relief and gratitude, there was no unmanly exultation over 
the vanquished, no bitterness of feeling demanding condign punishment on 
those whose unnatural and wicked ambition and rebellion had so long defied 
the National authority, and so fully devastated, and so eagerly endeavored 
to destroy the Union. Nothing like this demonstration was ever before seen, 
or will ever be seen again on this continent. The rebel capital, which had so 
long resisted the National arms, and for whose fall the Nation's blood had 
been poured out as water, was ours. President Davis and his Cabinet were 
now fugitives. The tension, the strain of an unnatural and fratricidal war, 
that had been borne by the Nation for four protracted and tedious years had 
been loosened, and the people sprang up in joyous demonstration and exulta- 
tion. On that joyful day the annual election was held in Connecticut. That 
State, five months before, was closely contested; now, every county went 
Republican by an aggregate majority of over ten thousand — a full victory for 
the first time in many years, choosing a full representation in Congress from 
the four districts, and making a full success, locally and generally. An 
opposition Democratic journal accounted for this great Republican victory 
ty the fact " that, while the votes were being cast, cannons were thundering, 
bands playing, and the excited people were shouting over the fall of 
Richmond." 

President Lincoln, who had gone to the front on the 24th of March, in 
anticipation of General Grant's final movements against Lee, had been in 
constant communication with the Lieutenant-General, and during the 
successful movements of the Union army was in constant communication 
with General Grant and the War Department, until the day after the evacua- 
tion of Richmond, when he, on April 4th, accompanied Admiral Porter in a 
gunboat up to Rocketts, a mile below the city, and thence was rowed to the 
wharf and walked thence, attended by Admiral Porter and a few marines 
armed with carbines, to General Weitzel's headquarters in the Executive 
Mansion so recently abandoned by the President of the rebel Confederacy. 
The President entered the rebel capital as a citizen of the Union he had 
labored so successfully to save. No thundering cannon announced his 
approach ; no triumphal car conveyed the savior of his country to the con- 
quered city ; no guard of honor, no grand display of troops were there to 
welcome him, but on foot, with no guard except the sailors who had rowed 
him up James river, he entered and passed through ^the city restored to the 
Union. How wonderful and strange the event ! But yesterday the city 
bristled with hostile bayonets and all the paraphernalia of civil war, and 
now the President of the United States — he who had been des|)ised, hated 
and maligned above all other men living, and to whom Die vilest epithets 
had been applied by the people of Richmond, was walking their streets, 



304 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

receiving blessings and prayers frbm thousands, who hailed him as their 
deliverer. Soon the information was spread that the man, v.ho was a head 
taller than all others around him, with a mild eye and pleasant countenance, 
was President Lincoln. The air soon rang with a chorus of glad and happy 
voices. Thousands crowded, to welcome and bless their emancipator. The 
streets soon became impassable on account of the increasing multitude, and 
soldiers were called to clear the way. The walk was long, and the President 
halted a short time to rest. "' May de good Lord bless you, President 
Linkum," said an old negro, removing his hat, bowing, while tears ran down 
his cheeks. The President removed his hat and bowed in silence. 

AVhile reminded that Washington returned the salutation of a negro, 
because he would not be outdone in politeness, we can see even more than 
politeness in Lincoln's courtesy. It was an act of recognition for the services 
of the colored soldiers who had laid down their lives for the Union and 
impartial justice, that lowered the dignity of the conqueror to the salutation 
of the delivered. It was a bow, a condescension which overturned the 
customs, forms and usages of ages. After holding a short levee at General' 
Weitzel's headquarters, the President took a drive through the principal 
streets, and at 6 p. m. he returned to City Point. Two days later the Presi- 
dent repeated his visit to the city, accompanied by Mrs. Lincoln, the Vice- 
President and several United States Senators. He was now waited upon by 
several leading Confederates, who, feeling that their cause was hopeless, 
were desirous to make the best terms possible with the Government, and the 
President, in that spirit of kindness and magnanimity which had so distin- 
guished his administration, gave tliem a gracious audience, and a reception 
favorable to their early return to their allegiance and former relations with 
the National Government, creating thus, by his kindness and absence of 
resentment, a feeling of confidence and trust for the future in the minds and 
hearts of the citizens of Richmond. The President returned, April 8th, to 
Washington. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

EVACUATION OF RICHMOND, AND LEE's SURRENDER. 

The Army of Virginia, now, April 2d, reduced by its recent heavy losses 

and by desertions to thirty-five thousand men, was now concentrated as 

quickly as possible from Richmond on the north and Petersburgh on the south, 

at Chesterfield Court-house, and was thence moved as rapidly as possible to 

Amelia Court-house. Here they were halted for supplies. Lee was detained 

there the -Ith and 5th before food could be obtained for his famished men. 

Meanwhile, Sheridan moved rapidly westward by roads south of Lee's 

position, reaching the Danville railroad at Jettersville. Here he planted his 

force across the railroad, fortifying his position, prepared to stop Lee's entire 

force until Grant and Meade should be able to overtake and crush him. 

Meade, with the 2J and 6th corps, came up late on the 5th, while Lee was 

still at Amelia Court-house. Lee left Amelia Court-house, with his army, 

at night, the 5th, moving around the left of Meade and Sheridan's position, 

aiming for Farmersville, in order to cross the Appomattox, and thus escape 

his pursuers. But this was not to be. General Davis had already made a 

reconnoissance to our left, and had met, at Paine's cross-roads, Lee's train in 

advance of his infantry, and destroyed one hundred and eighty wagons, 

capturing five guns and many prisoners. Crook, of Sheridan's left, advanced 

to Dentonsville, where Lee's whole army was moving rapidly westward. 

Crook immediately charged, as directed by Sheridan, being inferior in force, 

but determined to detain the enemy until supjjorts could arrive. The result 

justified the daring. Cook was repulsed, but meanwhile Custer, with his 

division of horse, attacked further on, gaining the road at Sailors' creek, 

where Crook and Deven coming to his support, they l)roke the rebel line, 

capturing four hundred wagons, sixteen guns and many prisoners. Ewell's 

corps, following the train, was thus cut off from Lee's army. His advance 

was charged by Colonel Stagg's brigade, and Seymore's division coming up, 

the odds were too great, and Ewell's veterans, inclosed between our cavalry 

and the (3th corps, after a gallant defense, threw down their arms and stir- 

305 



306 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

rendered. General Ewell and six thousand prisoners were taken this day. 
Lee, with his vanguard, crossed the Appomattox at Farmersville, the night 
of the 6th, but his men were fainting and falling by the way. During 
the night of the 6th many of the chief officers of the retreating army 
met around a camp fire to discuss their desperate condition. Upon a full 
exchange of opinions, it was unanimously conceded that a surrender was 
inevitable. Lee was not present, but the result of the council was conveyed to 
him by General Pendleton. 

Meade and Sheridan having taken possession of the Danville railroad at 
Jettersville, Lee's supplies for his army, which had been collected at Lynch- 
burgh and Danville, were intercepted. So, while the retreating, famished 
rebel soldiers were endeavoring to evade the persistant pursuit of Sheridan's 
cavalry, they were compelled to procure their subsistence from the alreadj'' 
exhausted country. Hunger and fatigue were rapidly decimating the ranks of 
the fugitives. Already weariness, fatigue and despair had compelled half of 
the soldiers to throw away their arms, which they were no longer able to 
carry. The soldiers were completely disheartened and disorganized. 

General Grant, while directing the pursuit from Farmville, dispatched 

to General Lee the following letter: 

"April 7, 1865. 

" General — The results of last week must convince j'ou of the hopeless- 
ness of further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in this 
struggle. I feel that it is. so, and regard it as my duty to shift from myself 
the responsibility of any further effusion of blood by asking of you the surren- 
der of that portion of the Confederate army known as the Army of Northern 
Virginia. 

" Gen. R. E. Lee. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

In the meanwhile, the retreat and pursuit went on. General Lee sending 
this reply to General Grant, which reached him at Farmville next morning : 

" April 7, 1865. 

" General — I have received your note of this date. Though not enter- 
taining the opinion you express on the hopelessness of further resistance on 
the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate your desire to avoid 
useless effusion of blood, and therefore, before considering your proposition, 
ask the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender. 

" Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant. 11. E. Lee, General." 

To this note General Grant immediately replied : 

" April 8, 1865. 
"Genkral — Your note of last evening in reply to mine of same date, 
asking the conditions on which I will accept the surrender of the Army of 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 307 

Northern Virginia, is just received. In reply, I would say, that, peace being 
my great desire, there is but one condition I would insist upon, namely : 
That the men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up arms 
again against the United States until properly exchanged. I will meet you, 
or will designate officers to meet any officers you may name for the same 
purpose, at any point agreeable to you for the purpose of arranging definitely 
the terms upon which the surrender of the Army of Northern Viginia will be 
received." 

" General R. E. Lee. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

On the morning of the 7th, Sheridan, with his cavalry, moved to Prince 
Edward's Court-house to head off Lee's retreat on Danville. On the morning 
of the 8th the 2d and 6th corps under Meade moved directly on the rear 
of Lee's retreat. Crook and Merritt's divisions of cavalry, by a forced 
march of twenty-eight miles, intercepted four trains of supplies for Lee's 
army from Lynchburg, which they surrounded and captured. This was aided 
by our advance under General Custer. Without any hesitation, General 
Custer, supported by General Devin, pushed on toward Appomattox Court- 
house, and here, finding his force confronted by the van of Lee's army, he 
drove it back on the main body, capturing twenty-five guns, a hospital 
train, a large part of the wagons and many prisoners. Sheridan brought up 
the balance of his cavalry as fast as possible, placing it directly in front of 
the enemy, and sending word to Grant that the capture of Lee's army was 
now inevitable. In consequence of these advices, Generals Griffin and Ord 
reached Appomattox station at daylight next morning. General Lee had 
sent, the evening before, the following reply to General Grant's last note : 

" April 8, 1865. 

" General — I received, at a late hour, your note of to-day. In mine of 
yesterday, I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To be frank, I do not 
think the emergency has arisen to call for the surrender of this army, but as 
the restoration of peace should be the sole object of all, I desired to know 
whether your proposals would lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet 
you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia, but as far as 
your proposal may effect the Confederate States forces under my command 
and tend to the restoration, I should be j)leased to meet you at 10 a. m. 
to-morrow, on the old stageroad to Richmond, between the picket lines of the 
two armies. 

" Lieutenant-General Grant. R. E. Lek, General." 

General Grant was with Meade's column i)iirsning Lee, and received the 
above note about midnight. Before leaving the next morning for the front to 



308 



LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



join Sheridan and Griffin he dispatched the following reply to General Lee's 
note : 

" April 9, 1865. 

" General — Your note of j'esterday is received. I have no authority 
to treat on the subject of peace. The meeting proposed for 10 a. m. 
to-day will lead to no good. I will state, however, General, that I am equallj^ 
anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same 
feeling. Tlie terms on which peace can be had are well understood. If the 
South lay down their arms, they will hasten that most deferable event, and 
save thousands of human lives and hundreds of millions of property not yet 
destroyed. Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without 
the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, etc. 

" General R. E. Lee. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

General Sheridan was with his cavalry near the Appomattox Court-house 
when the army of General Lee made their last charge. Sheridan had covered 
our infantry with his cavalry dismounted, and as the enemy approached, our 
front gave way gradually, giving time for our infantry to form and take 
position. AVhen this was effected, the cavalry moved swiftly to the right 
and mounted, disclosing lines of solid infantry to the enemy, who recoiled in 
blank dismay. A white flag was now displayed by the enemy, and Sheridan, 
riding over to the Court-hoxise, was met by General Gordon, who requested a 
suspension of hostilities, as negotiations for a capitulation were then pending 
between Generals Grant and Lee. General Grant, before reaching Sheridan's 
headquarters, received the following note : 

" April 9, 1865. 
"General — I received your note of this morning on the picket line, 
whither I had come to meet you, and ascertain definitely what terms were 
embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of 
this army. I now ask an interview in accordance with the offer contained in 
your letter of yesterday for that purpose. 

" Lieutenant-General Grant. R. E. Lee, General." 

The two Generals met at once at the house of AV. McLean where the 
prehminaries of the surrender were arranged, and the result of the conference 
are indicated and comprised in the following letters : 

"Appomattox Court-house, April 9, 1865. 
" General— In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 
8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia 
on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made 
in duplicate; one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the 
other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 300 

officers to give their individual parole notto take up arms against the Govern- 
ment of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or 
regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their com- 
mands. The arms, artillery and public proi)erty to be packed and stacked 
and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will 
not embrace the side arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. 
This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to 
be disturbed by United States authority so long as he observes his parole and 
the laws in force where he may reside. 

" General E. E. Lee. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General." 

" Headquarters Armv of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. 

" General— I received your letter of this date containing the terms of 
the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they 
are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th inst., 
they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the 
stipulations into efifect. 

" Lieutenant-General Grant. R. E. Lee, General." 

After the signatures were written, General Lee said " he had forgotten 
one thing. Many cavalry and artillery horses in his army belong to men in 
charge of them, but, of course, it was too late to speak of it now." General 
Grant replied : "I will instruct my paroling officers that all the enlisted 
men of your cavalry and artillery who own horses are to retain them, just as 
the officers do theirs. They will need them for their Spring plowing and 
other farm work." " General," replied Lee with much feeling and earnest- 
ness, " there is nothing that you could have done to accomplish more good 
either for them or the Government." 

Viewed in connection with General Grant's persistent and successful 
campaign, his letters to General Lee in relation to the surrender of his army 
show victory of character as well as of arms. For the tender and humane 
spirit in them expressed they will be read everywhere, and for succeeding 
ages with admiration. They exhibit no indication of triumph; no exultation 
over a fallen foe. The successful General whose duty had been plain, who 
was inexorable in his persistence for victory, and whose unparalleled energy 
was marked with crimson tide, asks the vanquished, in the name of their 
common country, and of their common humanity, to end the strife without the 
loss of another life. 

On the 26th of April, J. E. Johnson commanding the Confederate States 
army in North Carolina, surrendered his army to W. T. Sherman, Major- 



310 LIFE AND PtFBLlC SERVICES 

General. The surrender of Johnson to Sherman was followed on the 15th of 
May by that of General Taylor, with all the Confederate soldiers then remaining 
east of the Mississippi river, to General Canby. And on the 26th of the same 
month General Kerby Smith surrendered his entire command west of the 
Mississippi to General Canby. This ended all military opposition to the 
United States Government. 



CHAPTER LV. 

JOY OF THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE — RAISING THE OLD FLAG ON FORT SUMPTER. 

On Saturday, April 8th, President Lincoln and family returned to AVash- 
ington from Richmond, and Sunday, General Grant telegraphed to the 
President that on that day he received the surrender of General Lee and his 
army. The joyful excitement over the fall of Richmond had only in a measure 
subsided when came the welcome news of Lee's surrender, and the return of 
the President from Richmond to "Washington, and now again the Nation was 
intensified with universal jo}' and gladness. 

This joyous sacred day, the most happy and gladsome one ever enjoyed 
by the President, was spent by him in the Executive Mansion in seclusion 
with his family and near friends ; he now laid his burden down, which he 
had borne for the past four j^ears, and in cheerful and animated conversation 
with his friends and family, he expressed himself with confidence and trust 
in the future, and with thankfulness and gratitude for the present and past. 
This day of praise and thanksgiving was universal throughout tlie loyal States, 
and as the anthems of thankfulness and gratitude ascended from every church 
and hamlet to the Great Author of our National blessings for the return of 
peace and unity to the land and Nation, the honored instrument who had 
secured these great blessings was recognized and hailed as the saviour of the 
Union and the distinguished benefactor of the race. 

On the evening of the 11th of April, 18B5, the Executive Mansion was 

brilliantly and beautifully illuminated and the people assembled in immense 

numbers to express their joy and give utterances of exultation and gladness 

for victory and peace, and to give expressions of their love and admiration of 

the patient, suffering man whose administration stands pre-eminent in history 

as the grand consummation of renowned events the world has ever witnessed. 

On this occasion the President delivered his last public address. As he 

stepped on the portico before the vast audience, shouts of joy arose and gladness 

beamed on the uplifted human faces. The President's heart was full, the 

careworn face was wreathed in smiles. This was all appropriate, because the 

311 



312 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

Nation was redeemed. The President first referred briefly to tlie joyou s 
occasion. Victory and peace were assured. To tlie brave soldiers wliose 
victories have been so remarkable and effective, is due a Nation's gratitude, 
and to the Almighty Father were due the homage of our hearts and our 
sincere thanks for what He has done in the Nation's behalf, and for the signal 
manifestation of His providence in the success of our arms. Then, turning 
from the past and present, he spoke of the future and of the new responsi- 
bilities and duties which still devolved upon the Government and the people 
through their representatives. This address was mainly devoted to a consid- 
eration of the best means of reconstruction and how to bring back the seceded 
States again into the Union as speedily and with as little friction as possible. 
He said : " The quickest way back to old relations with the Government is 
the best way, without regard to any finely-spun theories." 

The President's plan of reconstruction was embodied in a proclamation 
which accompanied his annual message to the Thirty-eighth Congress ; but 
he said, " he was not committed to that plan alone; we all agree that the 
seceded States, so-called, are out of their practical relations with the Union, 
and that the sole object of the Government, civil and military, in regard to 
those States is to get them into their proper, practical relations." He was not 
committed to any particular plan, but with a characteristic absence of all 
resentment and anger toward the late insurgents, he evinced an anxious 
solicitude that Congress should take immediate measures to restore the rebel 
States to all the functions of self-government and equal rights and power in 
the Union as soon as circumstances, consistent with the National tranquility 
and safety, would permit. He further expressed his convictions and desire 
that in case a general amnesty should be granted to the rebels that at least a 
qualified right of suffrage should be accorded to the colored people of the 
slave States. 

On the 12th, 13th and 14th days of April, the President was engaged, with 
Secretary Stanton, in the War Department in issuing proclamations and pre- 
paring measures, to be speedily issued, to stop all drafting and recruiting, to 
curtail purchases of supplies for the army, to remove all restrictions on trade 
and commerce, for opening all of the blocka<led ports and measures prepara- 
tory for disbanding the army, and the return of its members to home, to 
friends and to the pursuits of peaceful industry, which they had left at the 
call of their country in her hour of trial and need. 

The President had now reached the summit of fame and renown. None, 
whether of ancient or modern times, stood higher. Commencing at the very 
foot of the ascent, by the intuition of his natural abilities, he resolved, by his 
own efforts, perserverance and industry, on success. He persevered, aided 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 313 

only by the people. As he was kfiowii by the people, his career was upward 
and onward, until he became the Chief Magistrate of a great and imperiled 
Nation, and here, laboring in the interest of unity, liberty and humanity, he 
secured the confidence, love and affections of his countrymen, and the respect 
and admiration of the Governments of the civilized world. The great trust 
and work committed to his care had been well and faithfully performed. He 
understood from the first the dangers and peril to which secession and treason 
had exposed our Union, and as the vast interests of country, liberty and unity 
were to be saved or lost in the momentous conflict impending, he rose to the 
dignity and importance of the occasion, and with a will of firmness and tenac- 
ity, and a heart humane and tender, he used the power given him by the 
people, both civil and military, until success crowned his labors. The results 
of his policy and administration are, that our Nation stands to-day united — 
disenthralled in the glorious light of universal liberty and humanity. And 
now, when the hour of triumph and joy had come to the people, peace, hope 
and happiness in all their fruition filled the heart of the President, 
his loving, liberal nature was already devising plans and measures for the 
welfare of a conquered people. His thoughts and labors were now for 
harmony and for the reunion and concord of the late rebellious States. He 
looked forward with anticipation and pleasure to the time, he tiien thought 
not far distant, when his measures for the welfare and good of all would 
demonstrate to the people of the seceded States that he had none but the 
kindest feelings toward them, and that he would treat them as graciously and 
gentle as the interests of all, and the public safety and good would permit. 

On the 14th day of April, 1865, the sun rose in all its resplendent beauty. 
The day was remembered as the fourth anniversary of the surrender of Fort 
Sumpter, and the lowering of our National flag to traitors and to treason ; that 
was a day of indignation, anguish and humiliation. On this daj', by the civil 
and military representatives of the Nation, the same old flag that went down 
four years i)revious in dishonor and shame was raised on the same battle- 
ments of the old fort in honor and glory, amidst the rejoicing and ajjplause 
of the thousands present. 

At the fall and desecration of the old flag were lighted aglow the fires of 
patriotism. A million of freemen sprang to the rescue to avenge the National 
insult, and restore to its wonted honor and glory that National emblem wiiich 
long had been our country's pride and renown. The old, honored banner 
was restored to its proper place, every star, bright and eflulgent, sparkling, 
luminous with the fires of liberty, renovated and renewed by the march of 
freedom. It now waves again, undimmed and untarnished, as a beacon to 
the oppressed of every land and people, witli its glorious reniini.sceuces of 



314 LIFE AND PUBLIC SEKVICES 

former years when all, united, marched under it proudly in unity and to 
victory. It was now tendered as a peace offering, the olive branch to our 
subdued and misled brethren and countrymen. It was the initial step taken 
to inaugurate and foster a fraternal spirit and a unity of feeling which has 
continued to grow and increase until the bonds of concord and harmony have 
become more perfect and united than at any former period of our country's 
history. It was on this glad day when the hearts of all good men rejoiced to 
see that the expiring demon of treason in its throes of dissolution was pre- 
paring to strike its most atrocious and deadly blow. Failing to destroy the 
Union and dismember the best Government on the earth, it turned in all the 
bitterness and malignity of its insatiate passion to strike down the honored 
ruler of a people and Government it could not subdue or destroy. How far 
and how wide this ilefarious conspiracy extended remains sealed and unknown 
to the American people. We have the charity to believe and the humanity 
to trust that the leaders of the rebellion in this foul assassin's plot and 
assassination were not directly concerned or implicated. We do know 
that there were men engaged in the rebellion that reprobated the accursed 
deed with horror and with honest indignation. But however much the 
leaders of the rebellion may have denounced and disowned the deed, the fact 
still remains that their insatiate and diabolical attempts to destroy the Gov- 
ernment and Union and inaugurate and continue an intestine war for that 
object, were no less criminal in the eyes of the world and judgment of 
humanity than he whose principles were conceived in treason, and whose 
motives and action were in revenge for what treason had suffered. 

Secretary Seward, in a reply to Hon. John Biglow, the American Consul 
at Paris, relative to conspiracies for the purpose of assassination, said : 
"Assassination is not an American practice or habit, and one so vicious and 
desperate cannot be engrafted into our political system. This conviction of 
mine has steadily gained strength since the civil war began. Every day's 
experience confirms it." Subsequent events and personal experience pro- 
duced in the mind of the Secretary a very different opinion. 

It is now well known that conspiracies were formed against the prominent 
officers of the Government, in the States, also in Canada and Europe, and 
Generals Grant and Sherman were not exempt from those plots. Evidence 
is wanting to establish the fact that these conspiracies were disowned or dis- 
couraged by the Confederate Government. 

That the possibility of assassination frequently occurred to the mind of 
the President is evident from the numerous letters he received with threats 
of assassination. Scarcely had the rejoicings of the Republican party, on his 
election, subsided, before the mails brought him weekly, at Springfield, 



I 



OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 315 

letters and threats of that character. He regarded them, however, as malig- 
nant menaces of cowards and bulHes. He often remarked, " a barking dog 
seldom bites." A friend expressed the idea that the rebels might attempt 
his life. Stepping to a desk and drawing from a pigeon-hole a package of 
letters, he said : " There, every one of these contains a threat to assassinate 
me. I, no doubt, would be nervous if I were to think and dwell upon the 
subject, but I have come to the conclusion that there are opportunities to kill 
me every day of my life if there are persons disposed to do it. It is not 
possible to avoid exposure to such a fate, and I do not trouble myself about 
it." On this subject he reasoned from his own feelings and sentiments, and 
could not comprehend the malice and revenge that would instigate such a 
crime. He had no resentments to gratifj', no vindictive emotions to restrain 
and no measure of revenge to inflict. With those sentiments and feelings, 
the thoughts of personal assassination gave him but little unrest or trouble. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

ASSASSINATION — FUNERAL SERVICES AT WASHINGTON. 

The morning of April 14, 1865, was spent by President Lincoln in inter- 
views with friends and members of Congress. Among them was Speaker 
Colfax, who was about leaving Washington for the Pacific Coast, and to him 
the President gave a verbal message to the miners, assuring them of his 
desire to protect their interests, inasmuch as their prosperity was identified 
with the interests and prosperity of the entire country. Later in the day a 
Cabinet meeting was held, at which General Grant was invited to be present. 
Later in the afternoon other friends came, and so in public and social duties 
the day was passed. Hon. George Ashmun of Massachusetts, who was 
President of the Chicago Convention, which nominated Mr. Lincoln for 
President, and who accompanied Senator Douglas on his memorable interview 
with the President at the outbreak of the rebellion, came in with others, and 
to him the President gave a note in pencil, the last words he ever wrote : 
" Allow Mr. Ashmun and friend to come in at 9 a. m. to-morroM'. 

A. Lincoln." 
The President and General Grant had been invited by the manager of 
Ford's Theater to attend and witness that night the representation of " Our 
American Cousin," and had announced them both as positively to be present 
by a personal notice in the Washington papers : " Lieutenant-General Grant, 
President and Mrs. Lincoln and ladies will occupy the State box at Ford's 
Theater to-night to witness Miss Laura Keene's Company in Tom Taylor's 
■* American Cousin.' " 

General Grant's duties would not allow him to attend, and he had left 
the city in the evening. The President was not inclined to go, but having 
been announced publicly that he would be present, he did not wish to dis- 
appoint the people, and as his presence had been pledged he concluded to go. 
He invited both Mr. Ashmun and Mr. Colfax to accompany him, but they 
both having prior engagements declined. The President, with Mrs. Lincoln, 

then drove to the residence of Senator Harris, where they took in 
310 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 317 

Miss Harris and Major Rath born, and then drove directly to 
the theater, which they reached at 9 o'clock, and found the theater 
filled in every part, and as they passed to the private box reserved 
for them, the whole assembly arose and cheered them with a most cordial 
welcome. The warm demonstration was an expression of congratulation for 
the Union victories that had been recently achieved, and the high esteem 
and regard they had for the President. Mr. Lincoln bowed in acknowledg- 
ment to the audience, took his seat and was soon absorbed in the representa- 
tions of the play. 

Shortly after 10 o'clock, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater and 
gradually made his way through the crowd to the box occupied by the Presi- 
dent and party. He had worked his way to the passage leading to the box, 
and showing a card to the President's servant, saying that Mr. Lincoln had 
sent for him, he entered the passage, closing and fastening the door behind 
him. He approached the door of the box, where he found everything favor- 
able for his diabolical purpose. While all were intently observing the play 
he took a derringer pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other. He quietly, 
and in an instant, presented his pistol near the President's head, as he was 
sitting iu an arm-chair looking intently on the play. A sharp report was 
heard and the infernal deed was done. The unerring bullet had sped its way 
through the President's brain. The President was rendered instantly insen- 
sible and never knew friends or pain again. All was at once in commotion 
and consternation. Major Rathborn, the instant he comprehended what was 
done, sprang upon Booth, who, throwing him off, dropped his pistol and 
aimed a thrust at the officer's breast. He warded ofT the blow and received a 
wound in the arm. 

The murderer rushed to the front of the 1)0x and leaped some twelve feet 
down on the open stage, his S|)ur catching in the drapery, he fell, fracturing 
his leg. He arose immediately and flourishing his dagger exclaimed, " Sic 
semper tyrannis," and "the South is avenged;" then retreating quickly 
through the theater to his horse, which was being held by an accomplice, he 
mounted and was away before the audience fully comprehended what had 
been done. The scene among the audience at that hour bafiles description. 
Laura Keene, the actress, requested the audience to be quiet, and entered 
the box from the stage, bearing water and cordials, but it was of no avail. 
The President was unconscious, and as soon as the surgeons, who had gathered 
quickly to him, ascertained the nature and position of the wound, the helpless 
President was carried across Tenth street to the house of Mr. Patterson. 
Surgeon-General Barnes, after an examination, pronounced the wound a 
mortal one. Those sad and sorrowful words fell upon the ears of the friends 



318 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and members of the Cabinet with all their mournful significance. Secretary 
Stanton, bursting into tears, exclaimed: "Oh, no, General; no, no." Sec- 
retary Wells, McCullough, and Attorney-General Speed, Postmaster-General 
Dennison, General Meigs and Senator Sumner were bowed around the bed in 
silent grief, the latter holding one of the hands of the President, and, weeping 
in bitter anguish, in silent sorrow, the great men of the Nation watched and 
wept at the bedside of the President until twenty-two minutes past 7 a. m., 
April 14, 1865, when he breathed his last. Then the stern and sorrowful 
Secretary of War, Mr. Stanton, arose and closed the eyes of the President 
and leaning over him, mournfully said : "No one will ever know the anxious 
hours that you and I have spent together. You were my only witness; now 
you are gone and I am left alone." Then rousing himself from the intensity 
of his grief, he repaired to his office and gave the necessary orders to secure 
the Government to the Vice-President, Johnson, and to surround Washington 
with troops. 

In an adjoining room to that in which the President lay was Mrs. Lincoln 
in all the abandonment of her great grief and sorrow, supported by her son 
Robert, and Mrs. Senator Dihon. How meager and unavailing were all 
attempts at solace and comfort in this sad and mournful hour ! 

While the assassination of the President was being consummated at the 
theater, in another part of the city an attempt was made to assassinate Mr. 
Seward, the Secretary of State. The assassin forced his way to the bedside 
of the Secretary and stabbed him three times, and then made his escape, 
wounding no less than five persons in his diabolical attempt. The arch fiend 
was Lewis Payne Powell. 

The feelings of the citizens of AVashington at this hour cannot be imagined , 
much less described. A solemn silence overspread that night the National 
capital. The avenues of the city were guarded, and every precaution was 
taken for the safety and protection of the other members of the Government. 

We may here lay aside the pen, for who can describe a Nation's grief? 
How portray in language the change in a day of a people from rejoicing, 
gladness and triumph, to the lowest depths of sorrow, humiliation and 
anguish ? How give the sounds of the mournful tolling bells ? How describe 
that profound and tender grief that brought every family and household in 
mourning and tender sorrow and sympathy for the Nation's loss? How 
represent the insignia of mourning and sorrow that was displayed throughout 
the land? And how record the utterances of every pulpit in the land, from 
which came the voices of lamentation for the loss, and laudation and praise 
commemorating the goodness and virtues of the Nation's ruler, who had been 
so barbarously murdered ? 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 319 

Soon after the death of the President, liis body was removed to the Flxec- 
utive Mansion, and there it was placed in a coffin, which rested upon a grand 
catafalque. The respect, affection and grief of the people were manifested by 
offerings of flowers, and the falling tears indicated the depths of sorrow. 

On Monday, the 17th of April, a committee, of which Senator Sumner was 
Chairman, was appointed to make arrangements for the funeral. The com- 
mittee selected as pallbearers Me.ssrs. Foster, Morgan, Johnson, Yates, Wade 
and Conness on part of the Senate, and Messrs. Dawes, Coffroth, Smith, 
Colfax, Worthington and Washburn on part of the House. They also pre- 
sented the names of members, one from each State and Territory of the 
Union, to act as a Congressional Committee to accompany tiie honored 
remains to their final resting place in Illinois, with the people he loved, and 
by them was loved so well. The Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Hunter, 
issued the following official notice : 

" Department of State, Washington, April 17, 1865. 

" To THE People of the United States : The undersigned is directed 
to announce that the funeral ceremonies of the lamented Chief Magistrate 
will take place at the Executive Mansion in this city at 12 o'clock, noon, on 
Wednesday, the 19th instant. The various religious denominations through- 
out the country are invited to meet in their respective places of worship at 
that hour for the purpose of solemnizing the occasion with appropriate 
ceremonies. W. Hunter, 

Acting Secretary of State." 

At 10 o'clock on the morning of the 18th, the doors of the Executive 
Mansion were opened to the public, and thousands availed themselves of the 
opportunity to pay the last tribute of respect, to look, for a moment, on that 
kind, familiar face so dear to all. The high and lowly, the white and black, 
here mingled their tears and offered their tokens of affections side by side. 
It was a scene over which angels might weep, and yet rejoice, for humanity 
was communing with the invisible and immortal. 

On the morning of the 19th, all the departments of the Government were 
closed, all public buildings, as well as many private dwellings, were draped 
in the insignia of mourning. The funeral services were conducted in the 
East-room, in which were assembled the relatives of the deceased, except 
Mrs. Lincoln, who was so deeply prostrated by her great affliction that she 
was unable to leave her room. The services were eminently fitting the 
solemn and interesting occasion. Cabinet members, members of Congress, 
Governors of States, as well as high judicial officers, were present to pay their 
affectionate tribute of love and respect, and to unite in expressions of affection 
and esteem for the Nation's dead. Rev. Dr. Hall of the Episcopal Church in 
Washington, opened the services by reading the appropriate service of his 



320 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

church for the burial of the dead. Bishop Simpson of the Methodist Church 
then offered prayer. Eev. P. D. Gurley, Presbyterian pastor of Washington, 
in whose church tiie President and family were accustomed to worship, deliv- 
ered the funeral address, and the service closed with prayer by Dr. Gray, 
Chaplain of the United States Senate. 

Dr. Gurley's text was (Mark 11, 22): "Have faith in God." His 
address was eloquent, affectionate and eminently worthy of the solemn 
occasion. At the conclusion of the sad services in the Executive Mansion 
the honored remains of the President were borne to the capitol, followed by 
the members of Congress, and the Cabinet, and other notable personages 
present in Washington, and the numerous public and civic bodies of the city. 
The procession started at 10 a. m. The grand avenue leading from the 
White House to the capitol was cleared its entire length. As the hearse, 
drawn by six gray horses, emerged from the grounds of the Executive 
Mansion, the solemn, mournful sounds of the muffled drums were heard, and 
the militarv escort began its imposing march, with arms reversed. The 
sidewalks on either side, the house-tops, balconies and windows were filled 
and crowded with eager, sorrowful faces. As the funeral cortege reached the 
capitol, the military bands played a solemn requiem and from the numerous 
forts around Washington pealed forth from their minute-guns their loud and 
mournful sounds. The remains of the President were borne into the rotunda 
of the capitol, where Dr. Gurley completed the religious exercises of the sad 
and mournful occasion. 

Pennsylvania avenue, leading from the White House to the capitol, pre- 
sented a scene more imposing, impressive and solemn this day than had ever 
been witnessed, under circumstances so sad, so mournful and so lamentable, 
in the history of our beloved country. Never in the records of past ages did 
a loyal, free and generous people exhibit such demonstrations of universal 
grief. Never were shed such tears of anguish and sorrow as was paid at the 
shrine of the people's ruler. Never were the principles of the rebellion and 
treason against the Union, and the best and most liberal Government in the 
world, and the dark and sanguinary deeds of crime, set in prominence so bold 
and plain, and hated with an abhorence and detestation so universal as were 
manifested this day in the sincere, mournful and imposing honors and testi- 
monials tendered to the lifeless remains of President Lincoln. History has 
recorded it, and memory has inscribed it indelibly, and it will ever be remem- 
bered, written and uttered as the sincere and sublime homage of a deey)ly 
afflicted and sorrowing people at the shrine of the Nation's friend. And still 
more will it be regarded as the Nation's expression of its approval of his 
administrative principles of unity, freedom, justice and humanity, which have 
made his life noble and his name immortal. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

FROM WASHINGTON TO SPRINGFIELD — FUNERAL OBSEQUIES — REMARKS. 

Thursday, April 20, 1865. — A solemn, impressive silence rests within the 
Nation's capitol. Senators and Representatives of the people walk the 
corridors with bated breath and measured tread, for within its portals repose 
the Nation's dead. The historical paintings representing remarkable periods 
or events in our country's progress and growth, clothed in weeds of mourn- 
ing, seemed to look down upon the sad scene as one more historic and 
remarkable than any which they represented. With drawn swords, officers 
in silence watch by the side of him who lies in calm repose. The mournful 
stillness is only broken by the measured tread of feet, of the thousands who 
came to take their last farewell, to drop the tears of anguish and sorrow, 
and to mingle their tokens of love and atfectionate regard for the illustrious 
dead. 

On Friday morning the funeral train which was to bear the martyred 
President back to his old home, to his old friends and to the people he loved 
so well, left Washington surrounded by thousands who had assembled to 
witness the departure of the Nation's friend. With the casket containing the 
remains of the President, was borne the dust of his beloved son, Willie, 
whose death occurred in the White House, and as they came from Spring- 
field together in life, so they return together in death. At 10 a. m. the funeral 
train reached Baltimore. Many thousands had here assembled to give a 
fitting reception and pay their last tribute of respect to the honored dead. 
The military display was grand and imposing, and all the ceremonies of the 
occasion did honor to the city and people, and to the memory of the eminent 
man they mourned. This wonderful, imposing manifestation of universal 
affection and grief by the citizens of Baltimore for the martyred President, 
gave testimony that cannot be controverted, of their high appreciation of the 
President's rule and policy which had given them a new National life. 

Here, four years befoje, the President passed througii the city in the 

night, for fear of assassination, and now all that testimonials of grief and 

321 



322 LIFE AXD PUBLIC SERVICES 

respect could contrive and devise was done to make the occasion and his 
return through the city an impressive and imposing vindication of his official 
policy and a lasting public testimonial to his memorj'. Late in the afternoon 
the mournful cortege left Baltimore amidst the countless multitude who, with 
heads uncovered, gave a fitting tribute of respect to the sleeping patriot. On 
to Harrisburg, along the route and at every station were thousands gathered, 
standing with heads uncovered and mute with grief. At every town and 
hamlet bells were tolled and mournful music filled the air. At Harrisburg, 
from early in the evening until 9 o'clock next morning, anxious crowds from 
the country, as well as of the city, pressed their way into the State House to 
gain a view of the features of the Nation's honored dead. From Harrisburg 
to Philadelphia, at every point and village, thousands of people had 
assembled and stood uncovered while the train passed, to express their grief 
and add their testimony to the universal sorrow. 

Philadelphia had prepared to give an appropriate and suitable reception 
to the remains of the friend of liberty and the savior of the Union. From 
the cars the catafalque containing the remains was escorted to Independence 
Hall by a procession, the longest and the most remarkable in every respect 
that was ever witnessed in the city. How appropriate that the President's 
remains should rest for the time in this honored hall. Four years before, on 
the birthday of the father of his country, the President said in this hall, 
speaking Of the distracted condition of the country and the sentiments 
embodied in the Declaration of Independence : " Now, my friends, can this 
country be saved upon this basis ? If it can I will consider myself one of the 
happiest men in the world — if I can help save it." The President had saved 
the country, the Union, on the basis and principles he had described, and 
tens of thousands of mourning and grief-sti'icken citizens were here to honor 
him for it. On that same occasion, in that consecrated room, hallowed by 
the memories of the past, the President, after pledging himself anew to the 
principles of the Fathers of the Republic (having been publicly invited) 
walked to the platform and ran up to the top of the flagstaff the star, spangled 
banner, the beautiful National emblem prepared for the occasion. It then 
waved gloriously in the breeze amid the cheers and huzza's of the multi- 
tude assembled on that occasion. It might have been an omen then of our 
country's promise and success. It was, however, intimately connected and 
united with the principles and struggles which the honored dead had faith- 
fully secured and defended, and as the same historic flag waved in still 
brighter effulgence and beauty over the honored remains, lowered, as it was, 
in respect of the departed, its appearance gave evidence that he had returned 
it to his people, every star sparkling and resplendent with liberty and unity, 
and the dark stain of oppression obliterated from its folds. 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 323 

From 10 p. m. Saturday until Monday morning, during which time the 
honored remains laid in state, a constant throng filed through the hall, pressing 
their way to obtain a glimpse of the features of the good man who belonged 
to all. At 4 o'clock Monday morning the train left Philadelphia for New 
York, and through the entire State of New Jersey it seemed that the entire 
population had gathered at the different stations to witness the mournful 
cortege and pay their sad homage to the passing lamented dead. 

At New York the public demonstratioii battles description. Here the 
tongue is silent and the pen fails to recount the ceremonies and testimonials 
to the honored dead. Such exhibitions of popular feeling and tributes of 
affection have no parallel in the history of the world. The New York Herald 
said: " The people, with tearful eyes, under the shadow of the great afflic- 
tion, watched patiently and unmurmuringly the moving of the honored dead 
and the mournful procession, and silently breathed over them the most 
heartfelt and fervent prayers. Such an occasion, and such a crowd, and such 
a day New York will never see again." 

Onward to Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, to 
Chicago, and intermediate towns and villages, a circuit of eighteen hundred 
miles, the mournful cortege passed. At every city, town and hamlet the 
demonstrations of personal grief and sorrow were repeated. The people 
gathered with every testimonial of respect and evidences of affection and 
love that could be devised and exhibited for the illustrious dead. It was a 
Nation in mourning. All parties joined in their demonstrations of personal 
respect and grief with testimonials and funeral honors to the kind and 
illustrious patriot, such as had never been paid to any ruler or mortal before. 
It was an exhibition of popularity and veneration such as the world had 
never witnessed. When the funeral cortege reached Chicago, the State of 
Illinois had received its honored dead. He was now in his adopted State, 
with the people he loved and by whom he was loved so well, and with whom 
he had spent most of his life. Here he had enunciated with stirring 
eloquence those immutable principles of justice which stirred the State and 
Nation to their center, which created a revolution in party and policy, and a 
new National life. He had left his State and people four years jirevious, 
asking that their prayers might be offered up to the Great Ruler and Disposer 
of events, that he might have wisdom and help to guide the ship of State 
aright, and that he might have ability and discernment to so discharge the 
momentous duties devolving upon him in the great National crisis then 
impending, that he could return to his friends and people, hearing the i)]au(litH 
of, " Well done, good and faithful servant." He had now accomplished liis 
work. He had come back, his voice still in death, but clothed in immortality 



324 LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 

and renown. But his lips had uttered, his acts had inscribed on the arch of 
the Republic those memorable words, "This Nation, under God, sliall have 
a new birth of freedom, and the Government of the people, by the people 
and for the people shall not perish from the earth." 

From Chicago the remains reached Springfield the morning of May 3d. 
Passing the long distance between the two places, at every town and station 
were renewed in the most affecting manner those demonstrations of sorrow 
and public grief, such ^only as could be exhibited by personal acquaintances 
and loving friends. But at his old home, in the midst of dear and intimate 
friends, endeared to him by a thousand blessed memories, was the companion, 
neighbor, friend, the beloved dead, received with such sorrow and tenderness, 
with such emotions of grief as only friends and neighbors could feel and 
tender. For twenty-four hours the constant, uniform tread of thousands 
was heard and seen night and day passing into the State House to take the 
last look and pay the last tribute of love and affection with a tenderness and 
emotion which none but lifelong friends can feel. The city, dressed in the 
extreme paraphernalia of mourning, with flags and every insignia of sorrow, 
and the State House, filled with neighbors and friends who clasped hands in 
mute anguish, with ^eyes filled with tears, bore witness to the great and 
universal sorrow. 

At 10 o'clock, May 4th, the ininute-guns, the solemn tolling of the church 
bells, and the military escort, with martial music, indicated the moving of 
the imposing and impressive procession which conveyed the distinguished 
and honored Nation's martyr to liis resting place in Oak Ridge Cemeteiy, a 
lovely and beautiful city of the dead two miles from Springfield. The grounds 
were filled and occupied by a countless multitude, who looked on, sorrowful 
and silent, while the casket, with its honored dust, was consigned to the 
silent tomb. The Rev. Albert Hale, pastor of the church where, in former 
days, Mr. Lincoln and family were accustomed to worship, opened the 
religious exercises with prayer, the invocation of the good man to the Giver 
of all good, for His mercies and blessings to rest on the bereaved and stricken 
members of the family of the deceased, and on the families who had given 
loved ones to save their country, and for a reunited and an harmonious peo- 
ple, found a fitting response in every heart, and the stillness and solemnity of 
the occasion were only broken by the sighs and sobs of the sorrowing 
audience. A hymn written for the occasion was sung bj'^ a choir of two 
hundred voices. Selections of Scripture and the President's last inaugural 
were read, and Bishop Simpson, a tried and valued friend of the President, 
delivered an elocjuent, able and afl'ectionate address. Solemn requiems and 
dirges completed the exercises, which were closed with a benediction by 



OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 325 

Rev. Dr. Gurley of Washington. There, in keeping with, and encompassed 
by, the lovely scenes. of his early manhood, resting peacefully because his 
work is done, and well done — the honored, weary patriot rests. Here, in 
these consecrated grounds, rests the savior of his country, the emancipator 
of a race, and here the dedication of the magnificent and elaborate monument, 
erected by his people over his honored remains, brings vividly to the minds 
of all the occasion and utterances of those memorable words, spoken at the 
dedication of the Nation's cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863. They 
so tenderly and plainly indicate his deep appreciation and sensibility of that 
patriotism which was willing to suffer and die for country and humanity, that 
they may be appropriately given here : 

"Four-score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this 
continent a new Nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, 
testing whether that Nation, or any Nation so conceived and so dedicated, 
can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war, we have 
met to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place of those who here gave 
their lives that a Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that 
we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot 
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, 
who struggled here, have consecrated it far above any power to add or 
detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; 
but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to 
be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fouglit here have 
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the 
great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take 
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
devotion ; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in 
vain ; that this Nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that 
the Government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not 
perish from the earth." 

For brevity of expression, depth of thought, beauty of dictation, and 
sublime utterances of patriotism, of love and devotion to his country, these 
brief and tender remarks on that mournful occasion will stand on record as 
way marks to all coming generations. The last sentence is an imperish- 
able example and record of the principles, purposes and labors of tlie 
President's public life. Those words — " That we here highly resolve tliat 
these dead shall not have died in vain ; that this Nation under God shall liave 
a new birth of freedom, and that the Government of the i>eople, by the 
people and for the people shall not perish fi-om the earth" — are written 
words of brilliant, living light on the pages of our Nation's history, and 



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LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 



they are -now and will be regarded by coming ages, the fruition of govern- 
ment, liberty and law in^all their purity. 

With the example of his illustrious life he has left them as a legacy to 
us, and they have become the heritage of the American people, and since 
their utterance they have been the ruling principle that has guided and 
governed our rulers of our reunited Union in the administration of its affairs 
until they have become the rule and policy of a new National life. And 
onward and upward our country, in the fulfillment of its great destiny, 
grows more effulgent in brightness and grandeur in its example of represent- 
ative progress and principles, and in its mission of fraternity and benevolence 
to the estranged and oppressed of every land and people, then will be seen 
and realized the embodiment and enjoyment of liberty and equality in its 
manhood, the emblem, the type of universal emancipation and freedom, 
which is the glory of its age. And when, in the near future, our country has 
reached this high eminence to which it is inevitably ordained by that law 
which governs its own unfolding, then, as now, will the peqple, with reverent 
and grateful hearts, delight to honor and revere the savior of the Republic, 
the martyr to the constitution, to enfranchisement, to liberty and law — 
Abraham Lincoln. 



